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THE  CHILD  AND  HIS 
SPELLING 


»*'? 


THE  CHILD  AND 
HIS  SPELLING 


AN  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  PSYCHOLOGY 

OF  SPELLING.  INDIVIDUAL  AND  SEX  DIFFERENCES  IN  SPELLING 

ABILITIES  AND  NEEDS.  THE  CHARACTER  AND  RANGE  OF 

THE  SPELLING  VOCABULARY.  AND  THE  PRACTICAL 

PROBLEMS  OF  TEACHING  SPELLING 


By 

W.  A.  COOK 

Of  the  University  of  Colorado 
and 

M.  V.  O'SHEA 

Of  the  University  of  Wisconsin 


CHILD  H 


BOBBS  MEKJLILL  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


COPTRIGHT  1914 
THS  BoBBS-MeRRILL  COMl'ANy 


pnras  OF 

BRAUNWORTH  A  CO. 

BOOKBINDERS   AND   PHINT€B8 

BROOKLTN.   k.   V. 


Education 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PART  I 
Leabning  to  Spell 


Lb 
C-77 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  Inteoductioh .  1 

Present-day  interest  in  spelling — Conflicting 
opinions  and  counsel — The  reason  for  differences 
of  opinion — Why  pupils  find  spelling  hard  and 
uninteresting — The  purpose  and  scope  of  the 
present  volume — The  speUing  vocabulary. 

II  Rules  for  Spelling 10 

Present  opinion  and  practise — Material  used 
for  the  test — The  persons  tested — Conscious  ver- 
sus unconscious  functioning  of  a  rule — Rule  on 
ie-ei,  final  e,  final  y,  final  consonant,  final  ie — The 
function  of  the  ie-ei  rule — Value  of  rule  on  final 
e — Value  of  rule  on  final  y — Value  of  rule  for 
final  consonant — ^Value  of  rule  for  final  ie — Stu- 
dents' attitude  toward  rules. 

III  Sources  and  Causes  of  Errors 23 

Need  of  determining  causes  of  errors — Preva- 
lence of  chance  errors — Slips  of  the  pen — Treat- 
ment of  lapses — Is  there  a  critical  point  in  a 
word? — Crucial  points  often  not  covered  by 
rules — Mispronunciation  as  a  cause  of  error — 
Analogies  in  spelling — Obscure  or  elided  vow- 
els— Doubling  letters — Types  of  letters — Syllabi- 
cation— Directing  attention  to  the  crucial  point 
in  each  word. 

IV  The  Life  History  of  Certain  Spellings      .      .       48 

Words  assigned  in  experiments — Methods  of 
presentation  and  study — Methods  of  recitation- 
Methods  of  correction — Capacity  for  improve- 
ment— Learning  and  retaining — Persistence  of 
errors — An  apparent  exception  to  the  rule  of  per-"^ 
sistence — Why  errors  persist — The  life  history 
of  certain  words — Errors  eliminated  one  at  a 
time — Four  stages  in  word  mastery — When  is  a 
word  mastered? 


843G64 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTES  PACK 

V  Column  Versus  Contextual  Spelling     ...       74 

Material  and  subjects — Difficulties  of  the 
plan — Two  methods  of  measuring  loss  by  trans- 
fer— The  conventional  conclusion — Genuine  dy- 
namic spelling — Dispersion  of  attention — Rela- 
tive automatism  in  spelling — Automatic  execution 
of  the  literal  elements — Oral  spelling  first — Auto- 
matic control  of  larger  units — Universality  of 
the  principle — Lack  of  transfer  unavoidable — 
Conclusion. 

VI  Methods  of  Presentation 94 

Variance  of  opinions — Plan  of  the  work — 
Four  types  of  presentation — Effectiveness  of  the 
training — Comparison  of  methods — Processes  in 
graphic  and  oral  spelling — Advantages  of  each 
method — Showing  a  pupil  his  error. 

VII  Spelling  Efficiency  and  Composition   ...      104 

Plan  of  the  work — The  data  gathered — Or- 
ganization of  ideas — The  spelling  conscience — At- 
tention to  technique — Rapidity  of  writing — The 
results  summarized. 

VIII  Some  Special  Factors  in  Spelling       .      .      .      112 

Learning  to  read  in  relation  to  learning  to 
spell — Fear  of  making  errors — Seeing  and  hear- 
ing mistakes — Can  one  reason  out  a  spelling? — 
Auditory  and  visual  types — No  pure  types — Dom- 
inant type  of  error — Syllabication  as  an  aid — 
Traits  that  make  good  spellers. 

PART  II 
The  Spelling  Vocabulary 

IX  Popular  Views  of  Spelling  Needs    ....      125 

Present  theory  and  practise — Purpose  of  spell- 
ing— Immediate  versus  ultimate  values  in  spell- 
ing—Pruning word  lists — Reasons  for  opposition 
to  curtailment  of  vocabulary. 

X  Determining  the  Written  Vocabulary  of  Typi- 

cal Americans 135 

An  experimental  study  of  spelling  needs — 
Ayres'  study  of  spelling  vocabularies — How  to 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

find  the  needs  of  the  "common  people" — Declin- 
ing importance  of  spelling — No  imminent  danger 
of  hampering  the  child. 

XI  Sources  and  Character  of  Data      ....      144 

Sources  of  data  —  No  consideration  of  test 
lists — Rules  of  procedure — The  arrangement  of 
words. 

XII  Word  Lists  Derived  from  Correspondence   .      .      156 

The  method  of  classifying  data — Words  used 
by  all  the  correspondents — Words  used  by  a  ma- 
jority of  the  correspondents — Words  used  by  less 
than  a  majority  of  the  correspondents — Proper 
names  in  the  correspondence — Separate  tabula- 
tion of  foreign  terms. 

XIII  Spelling  Texts  and  Spelling  Needs    .      .      .      225 

Vocabularies  of  spelling-books — Relation  of 
vocabularies  of  spellers  and  correspondents — 
Limitations  of  any  speller — Individual  writing 
vocabularies — Vocabularies  in  family  and  other 
correspondence — Sex  differences  in  spelling  vo- 
cabulary— Relation  of  time  economy  to  spelling 
needs — The  words  that  do  the  work. 

XIV  R^suMfi  AND  Conclusions 246 

Appendix — Words  Used  Spontaneously  by  Pupils    .  257 

References  for  Further  Reading 267 

Index      ........     ..      .      ......  275 


THE  CHILD  AND  HIS 
SPELLING 


PART  I 

LEARNING   TO   SPELL 


THE  CHILD  AND  HIS 
SPELLING 

CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

IF  one  tnay  judge  by  what  ohe  reads  in  the  news- 
papers and  magazines,  the  subject  in  the  schools 
of  chief  interest  to  the  layman  to-day  is  spelling. 
Present-day  inter-  There  is  evidently  a  widespread 
est  in  spelling  belief  that  graduates  of  the  ele- 
mentary schools  can  not  spell  So  Well  now  as  they 
did  in  fearlier  times.  A  number  of  investigators  have 
attempted  to  show  that  this  belief  is  not  founded 
on  fact,  but  the  newspapers  are  incessantly  repeat- 
ing the  statement  that  We  are  constantly  losing 
ground  in  spelling  efficiency.  Various  explanations 
are  offered  for  this  unhappy  condition  of  affairs; 
but  the  reason  most  frequently  given  is  that  the 
energy  of  pupils  is  being  dissipated  by  the  study  of 
"fads,"  and  that  they  are  not  in  consequence  being 
drilled  sufficiently  in  spelling.  On  the  other  hand, 
one  may  read  stifttements  to  the  effect  that  it  does 

t 


2     THE   CHILD   AND   HIS    SPELLING 

not  make  much  difference  whether  pupils  are  trained 
in  spelling  or  not,  because  "good  spellers  are  born, 
and  not  made."  There  seems  to  be  a  settled  con- 
viction in  the  minds  of  some  persons  that  certain 
types  of  pupils  never  can  learn  to  spell  well,  be- 
cause they  do  not  possess  the  particular  intellectual 
"powers"  required  for  success  in  this  undertaking. 
Meanwhile  every  one  seems  to  feel  competent  to 
give  advice  respecting  the  best  methods  of  teaching 
Conflicting  opin-  this  study.  It  is  apparently  re- 
ions  and  counsel  garded  by  most  laymen  and  some 
educational  people  as  a  simple  subject,  so  that  any 
sensible  person  can  formulate  sound  opinions  relat- 
ing to  the  way  in  which  pupils  may  be  got  to  learn 
it  most  readily  and  effectively.  In  consequence  of 
this  attitude  on  the  part  of  all  sorts  of  people,  with- 
in and  without  the  schools,  teachers  are  much  con- 
fused because  of  the  variety  of  counsel  which  is 
being  given  them.  They  are  advised  now  by  this 
person  to  give  more  attention  in  their  daily  pro- 
grams to  oral  spelling;  while  another  person  tells 
them  they  ought  to  abandon  oral  spelling  altogether, 
and  concentrate  wholly  upon  written  work.  Still 
another  person  will  advise  that  the  text-book  should 
be  discarded  altogether,  and  that  lists  of  words  for 
spelling  should  be  taken  from  all  the  studies  being 
pursued  by  the  pupil.  There  are  those  who  main- 
tain that  if  the  spelling  in  the  regular  written  ex- 
ercises be  properly  looked  after,  it  will  not  be  nec- 
essary to  have  any  special  period  devoted  solely  to 


INTRODUCTION  3 

drill  in  spelling.  And  so  one  might  go  on  at  length 
along  this  line,  giving  evidence  showing  that  there 
appears  to  be  slight  agreement  among  laymen  or 
teachers  respecting  either  the  causes  of  our  deficien- 
cies in  spelling,  or  the  most  efficient  methods  of 
remedying  them. 

The  chief  reason  why  there  is  this  disagreement 
in  regard  to  spelling  is  because  we  are  dealing  with 
The  reason  for  ^^  extremely  complex  subject, 
differences  of  though    it    has    been    generally 

°^   ^°  treated  as  if  it  were  exceedingly 

simple;  and  we  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to 
investigate  it  thoroughly  in  order  to  discover  the 
factors  which  are  operating  to  determine  success 
or  failure  in  the  way  it  is  presented  in  the  schools. 
The  layman  can  not,  of  course,  give  the  time  re- 
quired for  an  analysis  of  this  subject.  He  thinks 
something  is  wrong;  he  feels  pupils  can  not  spell 
as  well  as  they  ought  to;  and  he  concludes  that 
they  should  be  subjected  to  more  rigorous  drill  in 
the  school.  The  layman's  remedy  for  all  short- 
comings of  this  sort  is  to  give  the  pupil  more  of 
the  thing  in  which  he  is  defective — "drill  on  it 
harder,"  he  says.  It  is  his  conception  that  when  a 
thing  is  not  properly  learned  so  that  it  can  be 
used,  it  is  because  there  has  not  been  enough  of 
time  spent  on  it.  And  the  layman  is  not  the  only 
one  who  can  not  take  the  time  to  look  into  the 
mysteries  of  these  things.  The  busy  teacher,  too, 
is  so  overcrowded  that  he  can  not  analyze  these 


4     THE   CHILD   AND   HIS   SPELLING 

problems,  because  he  must  pass  rapidly  from  one 
task  to  another  during  the  entire  day.  He  often 
realizes  that  the  spelling  problem  is  complicated, 
that  there  are  various  factors  cooperating  to  pro- 
duce the  results  that  concern  us,  and  that  the  situa- 
tion should  be  examined  more  critically  than  it  ever 
has  been;  and  yet  he  is  almost  if  not  quite  helpless 
to  do  anything  about  it.  He  must  go  ahead  and 
teach  the  day's  lesson  the  best  he  can,  according 
to  the  light  that  has  come  to  him  from  one  source 
or  another — ^mainly  the  traditional  belief  in  the  way 
the  child  learns.  In  this  respect  it  is  no  more 
different  with  spelling  than  it  is  with  all  the  other 
subjects  in  the  program. 

At  the  same  time,  some  attempts  have  been  made 
to  apply  careful  analytic  methods  to  the  problems 
Why  pupils  find  o^  spelling  in  order  to  discover,  if 
spelling  hard  and  possible,  the  reasons  why  pupils 
uninteresting  j  ^   i  '^  ^  t 

do  not  learn  jt  more  accurately 

and  readily.  Recently  much  has  been  said  about 
the  unphonetic  character  of  our  words,  which  makes 
it  practically  impossible  for  a  child  to  learn  them 
without  supreme  effort  of  memory.  The  men  who  ^ 
have  been  delving  into  this  matter  have  been  so  . 
impressed  with  the  difficulty  of  learning  to  spell 
English  words  that  they  have  determined  to  revise 
many  of  them  with  a  view  to  reducing  them,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  a  phonetic  basis.  But  no  matter 
how  sympathetic  we  may  be  toward  this  spelling 
reform,  we  must  appreciate,  nevertheless,  that  for 


INTRODUCTION  5 

many  years  to  come  children  will  have  to  be  taught 
to  spell  English  words  in  their  present  forms,  with 
perhaps  a  dozen  or  two  exceptions.  In  this  con- 
nection, it  may  be  worth  while  to  note  that  there 
probably  is  no  study  in  the  curriculum  which  is 
less  attractive  to  pupils  than  spelling  as  it  is  ordi- 
narily taught.  In  the  course  of  the  investigation 
described  in  this  volume,  inquiry  was  frequently 
made  of  teachers  regarding  the  interest  which  their 
pupils  took  in  spelling,  and  the  answer  was  always 
the  same  in  effect— children  almost  hate  their  spell- 
ing, except  when  they  can  make  it  an  occasion  for 
a  contest  of  some  sort,  as  in  "spelling  down."  There 
seems  to  be  little  if  anything  about  the  memorizing 
by  main  force  of  the  form  of  a  word  which  appeals 
to  the  typical  pupil  anywhere  in  the  schools. 

With  a  view  to  contributing  something  to  the  so- 
lution of  these  various  problems,  the  authors  of  this 

«,,        _  ,      volume  have  conducted  a  series  of 

ine  purpose  ana 

scope  of  the  pres-  investigations  extending  over  a 
considerable  period  of  time.  The 
problems  which  have  been  studied  are  those  which 
the  teacher  encounters  in  his  every-day  work  in  the 
class  room.  The  method  of  investigation  has  in- 
cluded, first,  an  examination  of  the  spelling  history 
and  abilities  of  a  large  number  of  pupils  in  a  rather 
general  way ;  and,  second,  a  study  of  a  small  group 
in  a  very  thoroughgoing  manner.  University  and 
high-school  students  have  been  tested  to  determine 
their  ability  to  spell  a  selected  list  of  words,  and 


6     THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

an  effort  has  been  made  to  get  from  the  students 
themselves  an  explanation  of  their  own  processes 
in  attempting  to  spell  the  words  given  them,  and 
of  their  training  in  respect  to  all  the  matters  that 
might  have  a  bearing  on  spelling  efficiency.  It  be- 
came apparent  as  the  results  of  these  inquiries  were 
gained  that  an  investigation  of  this  sort  could  not 
do  more  than  open  up  the  real  vital  problems  of 
spelling  ability,  of  method  of  teaching,  and  of  the 
range  of  one's  spelling  vocabulary.  In  order  to  get 
at  these  problems  in  a  more  intimate  way  than 
could  be  done  in  studying  a  large  body  of  pupils,  it 
was  necessary  to  have  a  limited  group  ( it  comprised 
four  boys  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades,  one  a 
good  speller,  one  an  average  speller,  and  two  who 
were  inferior  in  spelling)  who  could  be  taught  spell- 
ing in  a  great  variety  of  ways,  and  who  could  be  fol- 
lowed from  day  to  day  in  every  phase  of  their 
reaction  to  the  lessons  given  them  and  the  tests 
applied  to  them.  The  results  of  these  investigations 
are  presented  in  Part  I  of  this  volume.  Through- 
out the  work,  it  was  the  aim  to  trace  the  steps  by 
which  each  pupil  mastered  the  words  in  the  lists 
used.  A  record  was  kept  of  every  detail  of  each 
pupil's  experience  in  conquering  new  words, 
whether  easy  or  difficult.  An  analysis  was  made  of 
the  structure  of  each  word  taught,  to  find  out  what 
part  of  it  occasioned  the  chief  trouble,  and  whether 
or  not  the  crucial  point  was  the  same  for  all  pupils. 
Individual  differences  in  method  of  attacking  words, 


INTRODUCTION  7 

in  the  types  of  errors  made,  in  the  readiness  of 
overcoming  the  errors,  and  in  getting  a  mastery  of 
the  correct  forms  were  all  carefully  recorded,  and 
the  results  are  presented  in  this  volume.  It  is  be- 
lieved that  in  this  way  a  rather  interesting  and 
valuable  body  of  material  is  brought  together  and 
interpreted  with  respect  to  the  practical  problems 
of  teaching  spelling  economically  and  effectively  to 
pupils  of  different  intellectual  types.  Suggestions 
regarding  the  treatment  of  pupils  in  mass  and  as 
individuals  are  made  frequently  throughout  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  various  topics  which  are  considered. 
The  most  important  problem  connected  with  the 
teaching  of  spelling  has  reference,  no  doubt,  to  the 
The  spelling  character  and  range  of  the  vocab- 

vocabulary  ^i^^  to  be  taught.     How  many 

words  and  what  ones  should  be  presented  in  the 
elementary  and  high  schools?  All  sorts  of  answers 
have  been  given  to  this  question  by  various  individ- 
uals ;  and  these  have  been  based  almost  wholly  upon 
individual  opinion  formed  in  one  way  or  another. 
But  it  has  seemed  to  the  authors  of  this  volume  that 
the  only  rational  way  to  determine  the  range  of  a 
spelling  vocabulary  is  to  find  out  in  some  manner 
what  words  people  actually  use  in  the  communica- 
tions of  every-day  life.  So  it  was  decided  to  exam- 
ine a  large  amount  of  correspondence  in  order  to  see 
what  words  were  employed.  This  correspondence 
was  selected  so  as  to  represent  various  interests 
and  callings  and  occasions,  and  it  is  probable  that 


8     THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

it  is  quite  typical  of' the  needs  of  most  American 
people  in  these  times.  All  the  words  used  were 
tabulated,  and  the  frequency  of  the  appearance  of 
each  word  was  detennined.  The  results  of  the  in- 
vestigation are  presented  in  Part  II  of  this  book. 
After  this  list  had  been  worked  out.  and  it  seemed 
apparent  what  words  played  the  leading  role  in  the 
every-day  writing  of  American  people,  it  was  de- 
cided to  test  the  list  by  an  examination  of  fresh 
correspondence,  and  by  a  study  of  the  letters  writ- 
ten by  people  in  newspapers,  these  letters  having 
reference  to  various  topics,  and  produced  by  people 
in  different  walks  of  life.  The  list  secured  by  the 
authors  of  this  volume,  which  began  to  have  the 
appearance  of  a  standard  list,  was  then  compared 
With  a  list  suggested  by  Ayres  in  an  investigation 
which  he  made  of  business  correspondence.  It 
was  found  that  the  list  derived  from  the  family 
correspondence,  and  applied  to  all  sorts  of  every- 
day writing,  proved  to  be  substantially  a  standard 
list.  So  the  authors  feel  confident  that  the  lists 
and  tables  as  presented  in  Part  II  indicate  quite 
accurately  the  needs  of  the  t}'pical  American  to-day 
in  respect  to  written  expression. 

In  order  to  throw  further  light  on  this  matter, 
there  have  been  added  as  an  Appendix  to  this  vol- 
ume several  lists  of  the  words  that  children  use 
more  or  less  spontaneously  in  the  different  grades 
of  the  schools.  It  was  thought  that  a  comparison 
of  these  words  with  those  which  adults  find  neces- 


INTRODUCTION  9 

sary  in  order  to  express  themselves  effectively  in 
every-day  life  might  prove  both  interesting  and 
useful. 

The  lists  that  are  presented  in  this  volume  may 
be  regarded  as  well  adapted  to  the  needs  of  Ameri- 
can pupils  who  do  not  go  into  special  pursuits, 
wherein  they  will  be  required  to  use  special  tech- 
nical terms  that  are  rarely  written  by  the  great 
majority  of  people.  Specialists  will  have  need  for 
this  general  standard  list,  if  it  may  be  so  consid- 
ered ;  but  they  will  need  in  addition  a  few  technical 
terms  which  can  be  acquired  when  the  occasion  for 
using  them  arises. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  VALUE  OF  RULES  FOR  SPELLING 

yiN  examination  of  modern  texts  in  spelling 
jfj^  reveals  a  striking  lack  of  agreement  regarding 
the  value  of  rules  for  the  learner.  The  Natural 
Present  opinion  Speller  and  Word  Book  does  not 
and  practise  contain  a  single  rule,  and  there 

are  other  spellers  that  omit  rules  almost  entirely. 
But  The  Normal  Course  in  Spelling  goes  to  the 
:)ther  extreme,  with  eighteen  rules  presented  in  the 
course  of  eighteen  consecutive  lessons,  seven  of 
them  having  reference  to  plural  formations  alone. 
The  length  and  simplicity  of  rules  in  different  texts 
vary  from  "Nouns  in  o  after  a  vov^^el  add  s  for 
the  plural,"  with  no  exceptions,  to  "In  monosylla- 
bles and  words  accented  on  the  last  syllable,  a  final 
consonant  after  a  single  vowel  doubles  before  a  suf- 
fix beginning  with  a  vowel  {x,  k  and  y  are  never 
doubled),  except  when,  in  the  derivative,  the  accent 
is  thrown  from  the  last  syllable  of  the  primitive," 
followed  by  the  usual  "other  exceptions." 

In  order  to  ascertain,  if  possible,  the  worth  of 
ordinary  rules  in  spelling,  the  following  hst  of  fifty 
words  was  submitted  to  certain  classes  of  university 
students  and  high-school  pupils.    This  list  was  sup- 

10 


THE   VALUE    OF    RULES 


II 


posed  to  be  a  fair  test  of  spelling  ability,  since  it  con- 
tained only  such  terms  as  are  found  in  nearly  all 
typical  spelling-books  of  the  present  day.  Doubtless 
most  of  the  students  examined  had  spelled  all  of 
these  words  in  their  spelling  lessons,  at  one  time  or 
another,  though  it  is  not  maintained  that  the  list  as 
a  whole  is  one  of  great  service  in  ordinary  written 
communication. 


1.  ancient 

2.  seizure 

3.  foreign 

4.  freight 

5.  their 

6.  conceivable 

7.  piercing 

8.  thievish 

9.  grievance 

10.  sieve 

11.  achievement 

12.  nervous 

13.  encouragement 

14.  awful 

15.  argument 

16.  peaceable 

17.  changeable 


18.  courageous 

19.  shoeing 

20.  singeing 

21.  mileage 

22.  pitiable 

23.  furious 

24.  greedier 

25.  fanciful 

26.  loveliest 

27.  buried 

28.  plenteous 

29.  conveyance 

30.  essayist 

31.  betrayal 

32.  dismayed 

33.  paid 

34.  daily 


35.  concurrence 

36.  regretted 

37.  conference 

38.  rebellion 

39.  gases 

40.  stoppage 

41.  quitting 

42.  benefited 

43.  quarreling 

44.  potatoes 

45.  folios 

46.  music 

47.  frolic 

48.  derrick 

49.  tying 

50.  dying 


It  should  be  noted  that  this  list  is  composed  of 
words  which  exemplify  seven  rules,  with  their  ex- 
Material  used  for  ceptions.  The  first  eleven  words 
*^®  *®^*  come  under  a  rule  which  is  often 

expressed  as  "i  before  e  except  after  c,  or  when 
sounded  like  a,  as  in  neighbor  and  weigh."  The 
words,  piercing,  thievish,  grievance,  sieve  and 
achievement,  illustrate  the  first  clause  of  the  rule, 
conceivable,  the  second,  and  freight  and  their  the 
third ;  seisiire  and  foreign  are  exceptions  to  the  first 


12    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

clause,  and  ancient  is  an  exception  to  the  second 
clause. 

Seizure,  conceivable,  piercing,  thievish,  grievance, 
achievement,  nervous,  encouragement,  awful,  argu- 
ment, peaceable,  changeable,  courageous,  shoeing, 
singeing  and  mileage  are  designed  to  cover  a  rule 
which  may  be  stated  thus :  "Final  e  is  dropped  be- 
fore a  suffix  beginning  with  a  vowel;  but  it  is  re- 
tained ( I )  when  the  suffix  begins  with  a  consonant, 

(2)  when  a  word  in  -ce  or  -ge  adds  -c^le  or  -ous, 

(3)  to  keep  the  pronunciation  of  the  word  constant, 

(4)  to  maintain  the  identity  of  a  word,"  Seizure, 
conceivable,  piercing,  thieznsh,  grievance  and  ner- 
vous illustrate  the  dropping  of  e;  mileage  is  an  ex- 
ception; achievement  and  encouragement  show  re- 
tention of  e  under  case  ( i ) ;  aivfid  and  argument 
are  exceptions  to  case  ( i )  ;  peaceable,  changeable 
and  courageous  come  under  case  (2) ;  shoeing  and 
singeing  stand  for  cases  (3)  and  (4)  respectively. 

Pitiable,  furious,  greedier,  fanciful,  loveliest,  bur- 
ied, plenteous,  conveyance,  essayist,  betrayal,  dis- 
mayed, paid  and  daily  come  under  the  nile  on  final 
y:  "Final  y  after  a  consonant  changes  to  i  before 
all  suffixes  not  beginning  with  i;  final  3;  after  a 
vowel  is  usually  retained."  Furious,  greedier,  fan- 
ciful, loveliest  and  buried  illustrate  the  first  part  of 
the  rule,  plenteous  being  an  exception ;  conveyance, 
essayist,  betrayal  and  dismayed  illustrate  the  last 
part  of  the  rule,  while  paid  and  daily  are  exceptions. 

Again,  we  have  the  rule:  "Monosyllables  and 
words  accented  on  the  last  syllable,  ending  in  a 


THE   VALUE   OF    RULES  13 

consonant  after  a  single  vowel,  double  that  con- 
sonant before  a  suffix  beginning  with  a  vowel,  un- 
less the  suffix  changes  the  accent."  This  rule  applies 
to  concurrence,  regretted,  conference,  rebellion, 
gases,  stoppage,  quitting  and  benefited.  Gases  is 
an  exception,  conference  shows  the  change  of  accent 
on  adding  the  suffix,  and  benefited  is  a  word  not 
accented  on  the  last. 

Potatoes  and  folios  were  intended  to  bring  out 
the  less  familiar  rule,  "Nouns  in  0  after  a  vowel 
add  .9  for  the  plural."  Music  and  frolic,  with  der- 
rick as  an  exception,  show  that  "Polysyllables  end- 
ing in  the  sound  of  k,  in  which  c  follows  i  or  ia, 
do  not  add  k"  The  last  two  words,  tying  and  dying 
illustrate  the  rule  that  "Words  in  -ie  substitute  for 
these  letters  y  before  the  ending  ing/' 

It  was  intended  in  this  test  to  include  words 
with  only  one  authorized  spelling ;  but  it  seems  that 
some  authorities  allow  two  I's  in  quarreling.  Ac- 
cordingly, this  word  was  left  out  of  account  in  the 
consideration  of  the  rule  for  the  final  consonant. 
Payed  was  marked  incorrect,  inasmuch  as  that  word 
was  probably  not  the  one  meant  by  any  person 
tested. 

This  test  was  first  made  upon  certain  students 
in  the  freshman  class  in  the  University  of  Wiscon- 
The  persons  sin.     These  Students,  because  of 

**^*®^  deficient  preparation,  were  a  se- 

mester behind  their  class  in  English.  The  chief 
reason  for  giving  them  this  test  was  the  fact  that 
over  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  seventy  papers  submitted 


14    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

were  from  students  who,  in  February  preceding  the 
giving  of  the  test,  which  occurred  in  November, 
191 1,  had  completed  the  course  known  as  "Subfresh- 
man  EngHsh,"  in  which  special  emphasis  is  laid  on 
spelling,  the  rules  in  general  being  thoroughly  taught 
according  to  Wooley's  Meclmnics  of  Writing.'^  It 
should  be  said,  however,  that  no  instruction  in  spell- 
ing rules  had  been  given  during  the  semester  in 
which  the  examination  was  held,  though  individual 
students  had  been  referred  to  rules  as  their  work 
required.  The  instructors  gave  this  exercise  as  a 
part  of  the  regular  work  of  their  classes,  graded 
the  words  and  noted  the  results. 

The  written  directions  given  each  instructor  for 
his  class  were  as  follows : 

I.  Spell  the  following  words,  numbering  them 
from  I  through  to  50.  (Then  followed  the 
list  given  above). 
II.  Without  changing  any  spellings,  write  all 
rules  you  consciously  used  in  spelling  this  list, 
and  after  each  rule  the  number  of  the  words 
on  which  you  used  it,  as  1st,  17th,  etc.  Do 
not  be  troubled  by  apparent  exceptions  to  any 
rules  you  have  in  mind.  Practically  all  have 
their  exceptions. 
III.  Write  all  rules  you  see  exemplified  by  this 
list,  but  which  you  did  not  think  of  while 
spelling  the  words.     If  you  can  not  give  the 


*  Seventy-six  papers  were  received  in  all,  but  those  of  four 
foreigners,  one  person  who  came  late  to  the  test,  and  another 
person  evidently  of  very  defective  hearing,  were  thrown  out. 
In  the  other  papers  there  was  scarcely  any  difficulty  due  t<? 
lack  of  understanding. 


THE   VALUE   OF   RULES  15 

nile  for  any  case  exactly,  give  its  essence,  or 
tell  what  it  is  about,  even  in  a  vague  way. 
We  want  all  you  know  about  spelling  rules. 
IV.  If  you  should  be  unable  to  give  any  data 
under  II  or  III,  say  whether  any  one  has 
ever  tried  to  teach  you  rules  for  spelling. 

A  desire  to  please  the  instructor  may  have  in- 
duced some  students  to  say  that  rules  not  consciously 
used  were  so  employed ;  but  all  the  evidence  indicates 
that  the  students  were  not  writing  for  the  benefit 
of  the  instructors.  One  who  fell  somewhat  below 
the  average  in  spelling  ability  said:  "The  writer 
will  admit  that  his  spelling  is  not  up  to  standard, 
but  when  he  has  any  literary  work  to  do  his  trusty 
Webster  is  always  beside  him."  On  the  whole,  the 
students  were  frank  in  their  statements  concerning 
their  training  and  their  attitude  toward  rules. 

Practically  the  same  test  was  given  to  thirty-nine 
seniors  and  thirty  freshmen  in  the  Wisconsin  High 
School,  a  secondary  school  under  the  control  of  the 
University.  The  word  daily  was  replaced  by  ^0- 
los,  which  comes  under  a  different  rule ;  and  quar- 
reling by  exhibition,  which  falls  under  the  same  rule. 
The  first  four  rules  involved  in  the  test  had  been 
taught  to  these  pupils  about  two  months  before, 
though  in  simpler  forms  than  those  given  above. 
A  list  of  ten  to  twenty  words  exemplifying  these 
rules  had  been  worked  through  daily  in  the  classes, 
about  ten  successive  days  in  the  freshman  class  and 
three  in  the  senior  class.  The  test  was  given  nearly 
six  weeks  after  the  learning  of  the  rules  had  been 


i6    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

dropped  as  a  class  exercise.  The  fourth  clause  of 
the  instructions  to  the  university  freshmen  was 
therefore  left  out  in  the  directions  to  the  high-school 
pupils,  though  the  seniors  were  asked  to  give  their 
opinion  of  the  value  of  spelling  rules  to  them,  with- 
out regard  to  the  supposed  views  of  their  teachers 
on  the  subject. 

As  each  of  the  seven  groups  of  words  was  cor- 
rected separately,  it  resulted  that  the  papers  fell 
into  three  classes,  according  as  the  writers  ( i )  con- 
sciously used  a  rule  in  writing  any  i)articular  group 
of  words;  (2)  later  recalled  a  rule  governing  a  cer- 
tain class  of  words,  but  did  not  consciously  employ 
it;  and  (3)  could  not  remember  any  rule  that  ap- 
plied to  the  words  spelled.  The  records  of  these 
three  classes  are  compared  for  each  rule  separately, 
since  each  rule  needs  to  be  considered  independently 
of  all  others,  because  one  rule  may  be  very  helpful  to 
a  learner,  while  another  may  not  be  of  service  to 
him. 

With  reference  to  the  first  and  second  classes  of 
papers  just  mentioned,  it  seems  impossible  to  sepn 

Conscious  versus  ^^^^^  ^^^  COnscious  from  the  auto- 
unconscious  func-  matic  use  of  a  rule.  A  rule  might 
tioning  of  a  rule       ,  ,  •       1         j  11 

be  used  consciously  and  very  help- 
fully for  a  time,  and  then  cease  to  be  so  employed, 
though  it  might  still  be  of  advantage  in  determining 
the  spelling  of  certain  words.  It  is  for  this  reason 
that  the  records  of  all  those  having  any  knowledge 
of  a  rule  are  presented  together.    Some  advocates 


THE   VALUE    OF   RULES 


17 


of  rules  may  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  those  unable 
to  cite  any  rule  in  spelHng  might  nevertheless  have 
realized  some  benefit  from  it  before  it  was  forgotten. 
This  surely  would  not  hold  in  the  case  of  the  students 
who  took  this  special  test.  The  recency  with  which 
they  had  been  taught  rules  certainly  gave  the  latter 
every  possible  advantage. 

The  per  cents,  in  the  following  table  indicate  the 
amount  of  correct  spelling  only  so  far  as  this  is  gov- 
erned by  rules.  For  example,  if  the  i  and  e  are 
correctly  arranged  in  ancient,  the  word  is  consid- 
ered correct  in  this  table,  even  if  there  be  elsewhere 
an  error,  making  wrong  the  word  as  a  whole.  This 
method  of  recording  is  adopted  necessarily  because 
our  inquiry  has  to  do  only  with  the  observance  of 
the  rules. 

TABLE  I 

OBSERVANCE   OF   THE  RULES 


Conscious 

Unconscious 

Combination 

Unable  to 
Cite  Any  Rule 

of  Rule  While 
Writing 

of  Rule  While 
Writing 

of  All  Citing 
a  Rule 

HiEh 

Univer- 

Hirb 

Unjrer- 

Hieh 

Unlver- 

Hisb 

Unirer- 

RULE 

School 

sity 

School 

•ity 

School 

•ity 

School 

•ity 

-«. 

tft. 

w. 

w. 

•». 

-«. 

'WL 

«, 

« 

« 

ti 

« 

0 

t> 

<u 

0 

B 

be 

B 

u 

c 

tn 

n 

be 

B 

u 

B 

u 

n 

Sf 

a 

b* 

•0 

3 

V 

•0 

3 

v 

3 

V 

0 

V 

3 

V 

3 

9 

3 

i> 

T3 

3 

V 

t/J 

< 

(fi 

< 

(/3 

< 

t/j 

< 

!/} 

< 

Cfi 

< 

t/l 

< 

C/3 

< 

ie-ei  

16 
81 

79 
81 

25 

90 

87 
87 

15 

71 

78 

6 
9 

87 
94 

81 

5« 

75 

80 

30 

99 

87 

38 
17 

73 

8?l 

40 
41 

8n 

Finale 

88 

Final  y 

11 
15 

74 

78 

18 
82 

94 

8S 

18 
27 

72 

13 
2 

95 

87 

29 
42 

70 
74 

81 
84 

94 

88 

40 
27 

73 

75 

89 
80 

91 

Final  consonant  .. 

84 

Final  t« 

5 

80 

18 

95 

64 

81 

62 

Ii9 



i8    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

Curiously  enough,  most  of  the  university  students 
who  said  they  consciously  used  the  ie-ei  rule  relied 
The  function  of  ^^  mnemonic  devices  which  gave 
the  ie-ei  rule  ^  d^g  ^q  only  one  or  tWO  of  the 

eleven  words.  Of  these  devices  the  word  "Alice" 
was  the  most  common.  It  is  used  to  indicate  that 
when  i  and  e  occur  as  a  diphthong  after  /  and  c,  i 
always  follows  directly  after  /  and  e  follows  di- 
rectly after  c.  The  slight  superiority  of  those  citing 
a  rule  does  not,  therefore,  seem  to  be  due  entirely 
to  the  rule  itself.  Three  subjects  made  one  or  more 
errors  by  stating  the  wrong  rule  and  following  it; 
while  four  made  one  or  more  errors  by  not  follow- 
ing the  rules  they  gave.  No  high-school  freshman 
mentioned  a  rule  as  it  had  been  taught  to  him,  but 
four  gave  it  nearly  correct.  Several  of  them  wrote 
something  about  "When  the  word  ends  in  ie  or  ei/* 
etc.,  plainly  confusing  it  with  two  of  the  other  rules. 
Three  seniors  gave  the  rule  substantially  as  they 
learned  it,  but  nearly  all  the  others  who  cited  any- 
thing gave  a  version  of  something  taught  in  earlier 
years — the  "Alice"  rule,  et  al. 

Sixteen  different  rules  were  stated  by  the  twenty 
university  students  who  told  how  they  solved  the 
Value  of  rule  problem   of  final   e.     The  most 

on  final  e  nearly  complete   statement   of   a 

rule  was — "Drop  final  e  before  a  suffix  beginning 
with  a  consonant  or  to  preserve  the  identity  of  a 
word."  The  rule  seemed  to  be  too  complex  for 
most  of  the  writers.     They  stated  it  in  general 


THE   VALUE   OF    RULES  19 

outline,  without  any  qualification,  or  gave  only  some 
very  special  application  of  it.  Several  who  had  the 
case  of  -ce  and  -ge  in  mind  were  far  more  success- 
ful than  the  average.  Three- fourths  of  the  high- 
school  students  said  they  remembered  some  part  of 
this  rule.  About  a  dozen  had  it  very  nearly  exact 
in  the  simple  form  in  which  it  was  recently  taught 
to  them,  but  their  grade  in  spelling  was  not  above 
the  average. 

Several  university  freshmen  cited  the  rule  for 
final  3;  in  acceptable  form.  The  high-school  fresh- 
Value  of  rule  tnen  excelled  the  seniors  in  its  re- 
on  final  y  ^^^jl      'pj^^  latter  seemed   unable 

either  to  use  it  or  to  recall  it.  It  might  be  noted 
here  that  while  the  observance  of  this  rule  was 
easiest  for  the  university  group,  and  showed  an 
advantage  of  three  per  cent,  with  them,  it  was  most 
difficult  for  the  high-school  group,  and  showed  with 
them  a  disadvantage  of  three  per  cent.  This  seems 
to  show  that  something  more  than  the  use  of  the 
rule  is  involved.  Very  probably  this  rule,  and  hence 
the  words  to  which  it  applies,  had  received  rela- 
tively less  attention  at  the  hands  of  the  high-school 
teacher  and,  on  the  contrary,  relatively  more  atten- 
tion in  the  carefully  outlined  work  of  the  university 
classes. 

Several  of  the  college  students  were  able  to  give 
more  or  less  accurately  the  rule  for  doubling  the 
Value  of  rule  for  final  consonant.  In  this  case  the 
final  consonant        citations  were  not  so  much  incor- 


20    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

rect  as  insufficient,  i.e.,  they  were  so  phrased  as  to 
apply  to  only  a  very  few  of  the  cases  which  the 
rule  as  a  whole  covers.  There  seemed  little  in  the 
rule  itself  to  cause  confusion  or  misapplication. 
About  fifteen  of  the  high-school  freshmen  and  three 
of  the  seniors  quoted  the  rule  substantially  as  it 
was  taught  to  them,  but  they  failed  to  show  any 
better  average  in  their  spelling  than  those  who  gave 
insufficient  or  erroneous  versions  of  the  rule.  The 
correct  application  of  the  rule,  as  it  had  been  given 
them  by  their  teacher  a  few  weeks  before,  would 
have  enabled  these  students  to  attain  an  average  of 
about  eighty-three  per  cent.,  instead  of  the  seventy- 
four  per  cent,  which  they  actually  attained.  This 
certainly  offsets  the  value  of  the  rule  in  the  spelling 
of  the  college  students. 

The  rule  relating  to  the  spelling  of  the  last  two 
words  of  the  list  appears  to  be  more  serviceable 
Value  of  rule  than  the  other  rules.     It  applies 

for  final  ie  ^q  ^  class  of  words  without  ex- 

ceptions. Thirteen  of  the  sixteen  college  students 
who  used  it  consciously  stated  it  and  applied  it 
correctly.  The  high-school  students  who  had 
learned  it  some  time  were  less  successful  in  ap- 
plying it,  though  four  of  them  quoted  it  correctly. 
The  rule  relating  to  mttsic,  frolic  and  derrick  was 
not  given  by  any  one,  so  there  was  no  chance  for 
comparison.  A  few  who  tried  to  formulate  a  rule 
on  plurals  for  potatoes,  folios  and  scJ'^s,  attained 
a  rank  about  twenty  per  cent,  below  their  fellows 
in  their  spelling. 


THE   VALUE    OF    RULES  21 

The  attitude  of  the  college  freshmen  seemed  gen- 
erally unfavorable  to  rules.  Teachers  were  charged 
Students' attitude  with  having  laid  but  little  stress 
toward  rules  on  them,  or  with  having  failed  to 

insist  on  their  application  until  thoroughly  mastered. 
One  writer  said :  *T  knew  most  of  the  spelling  rules, 
but  they  have  become  so  indefinite  in  my  memory 
that  I  am  mixed  up  if  I  use  them."  Another  said 
that  he  "attempted  to  learn  rules  for  spelling  but 
thought  it  added  to  the  difficulty."  Four  others 
declared,  after  giving  one  or  more  rules,  that  they 
had  decided  that  the  way  the  word  "looks"  is  the 
best  guide.  One  of  them  complained  of  the  long 
list  of  exceptions.  Four  who  had  been  in  the  course 
in  Subfreshman  English*  reported  that  they  had 
lost  almost  all  of  the  rules  then  taught  them.  One 
gave  this  amusing  but  rather  significant  testimony: 
"I  was  greatly  helped,  but  because  of  lack  of  prac- 
tise they  have  grew  vague."  This  suggests  that  it 
may  be  just  as  difficult  after  children  have  been 
spelling  somewhat  automatically  for  several  years 
to  get  them  to  spell  by  rule,  as  it  is  in  language 
work  to  get  them  to  base  their  expressions  on 
grammatical  rules.  The  high-school  seniors  gave 
testimony  substantially  the  same  as  that  given  by 
the  college  students.  Only  ten  out  of  thirty-nine 
ascribed  any  value  to  rules. 

In  summary,  it  may  be  said  that  no  one  rule  was 
quoted  by  as  many  as  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  university 
students,  though  more  than  half  of  them  had  memo- 

*  See  p.  14. 


22     THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

rized  all  these  rules,  and  others  besides,  only  the  win- 
ter before;  and  many  of  the  students  had  been  over 
all  of  the  rules  in  the  public  school.  A  little  less 
than  half  the  high-school  students  had  the  courage 
to  try  to  give  the  rules  they  had  learned  only  six 
weeks  previously.  In  the  university  group,  those 
who  gave  some  sort  of  rule  to  cover  any  part  of 
the  list  of  words,  averaged  four  per  cent,  higher 
in  general  spelling  efficiency  than  those  who  could 
not  give  any  rule.  So  it  is  fair  to  assume  that 
their  better  observance  of  the  rules  as  shown  by 
Table  I  is  the  result  of  their  better  spelling  ability 
in  general,  and  not  to  any  conscious  application  of 
the  rules  as  such.  Not  a  single  rule  tested  proved 
to  be  of  real  value,  except  the  one  for  the  last  two 
words  of  the  list — that  relating  to  the  final  ie.  In 
later  chapters  we  shall  have  much  to  say  respecting 
the  way  in  which  a  pupil  actually  does  learn  to  spell, 
and  this  may  help  to  explain  why  rules  do  not 
play  a  very  important  part  in  the  process. 


CHAPTER  III 

SOURCES  AND   CAUSES  OF  ERRORS 

THERE  have  appeared  in  print  from  time  to 
time  long  lists  of  misspelled  words  selected 
from  civil  service  examinations  or  tests  of  public 
school  children  by  boards  of  education  or  others 
who  are  inclined  to  think  that  spelling  efficiency 
has  declined  since  the  days  of  our  forefathers.  To 
those  engaged  in  teaching  it  is  discouraging  rather 
than  helpful  to  learn  that  a  recent  test  of  two 
hundred  thirty-seven  university  sophomores  and 
freshmen  resulted  in  the  misspelling  of  Macaulay 
by  one  hundred  eighty-one.*  But  the  report  of  this 
experiment  goes  further,  and  informs  us  that  the 
one  hundred  eighty-one  students  who  failed  to  spell 
the  name  of  this  well-known  English  author  ex- 
hibited only  fifty-one  different  ways  of  missing  the 
word.  It  apf>ears  from  this  fact  that  some  forms 
of  misspelling  are  repeated  by  different  individuals, 
which  suggests  that  a  few  particular  erroneous  com- 
binations may  enjoy  a  certain  kind  of  popularity 
among  those  who  take  liberties  in  the  matter  of 
spelling. 


*  Bulletin  of  Illinois  Association  of  Teachers  of  English, 
Vol.  Ill,  No.  8. 

23 


24    THE   CHILD   AND   HIS   SPELLING 

Now,  for  the  better  teaching  of  spelling  it  seems 
important  that  teachers  should  know  how  various 

-,    ,    ,  ,  ^  common  words   are  most   often 

Need  of  deter- 
mining causes  misspelled ;  yet  one  finds  a  general 
o  errors  j^^^^  ^^  understanding  on  the  part 
of  teachers  relating  to  this  matter.  Some  schools 
are  doing  a  valuable  work,  however,  in  compiling 
lists  of  words  misspelled  in  the  upper  grades,  and 
referring  them  to  teachers  in  the  lower  grades  to 
be  given  some  special  attention.  Where  the  schools 
are  well  organized,  certain  portions  of  such  a 
list  can  be  referred  to  the  particular  teacher  who 
is  likely  to  be  responsible  for  establishing  the  first 
impressions  of  the  words  that  give  trouble.  But 
teachers  ought  to  know,  in  order  to  be  of  greatest 
service  to  their  pupils,  not  simply  that  separate  is 
a  commonly  misspelled  word,  but  they  should  know 
also  just  where  the  mistake  is  likely  to  occur,  and 
why,  so  that  attention  may  be  effectively  directed 
to  the  source  of  trouble.  While  in  many  words, 
of  which  separate  is  an  illustration,  most  teachers 
are  aware  of  the  point  of  special  difficulty,  there 
are  many  other  words  presented  in  the  schoolroom, 
the  difficult  parts  of  which  are  not  known  to  the 
teacher  in  advance.  The  writers  have  been  im- 
pressed with  this  fact  in  the  experimental  work 
performed  on  the  group  of  boys  spoken  of  in 
Chapter  I.  The  sources  of  error  which  the  in- 
structor tried  to  guard  against  in  the  teaching  of 
the  lessons  did  not,  he  often  found  upon  test,  con- 


SOURCES   OF   ERRORS 


25 


stitute  the  major  difficulties  at  all;  he  had  been 
aiming  at  the  wrong  point.  Any  teacher  can  see 
how  subtle  a  matter  it  is  to  pick  out  the  sources 
of  error,  if  he  will  give  a  list  of  common  words 
to  his  class,  and  then  tabulate  the  frequency  of  the 
various  misspellings  of  each  word.  As  a  basis  for 
discussion  of  this  problem,  it  will  be  advisable  to 
consult  the  tabulation  of  the  misspellings  of  some 
common  words  as  they  occurred  in  the  one  hundred 
thirty-nine  papers  referred  to  in  Chapter  II.  In  the 
interpretation  of  these  data,  it  should  be  understood 
that  the  writers  are  relying  on  observations  of  the 
group  of  boys  already  spoken  of.  Without  sucK 
first-hand  observation,  it  is  impossible  for  an  adult 
to  be  reliable  in  his  explanations  and  deductions 
regarding  a  psychological  experience  remote  in  his 
own  past. 

TABLE  II 


Frequency  of  Occurrence 

Spelling 

>  to 

eg 

High- 
School 
Seniors 

High- 
School 
Freshmen 

ancient 

anceint 

70 

36 

2 

21 
2 

anciant 

.... 

3 

anscient    

anchint    

I 

I 

I 

antient   

.... 

I 

anxsion    

.... 

I 

26    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


Spelling 


Frequency  of  Occurrence 


foreign    . 
foriegn    . 
forgein    . 
forgien    , 
foregin    , 
foreighn 
foriegm 
foregien 
f orein    . 
foren   . . 
forhead 
thorn   . . 
thorm  . . 

piercing 

peircing 

pierceing 

peirceing 

pearcing 

pircing  . 

percing 

perssing 

preicing 

personly 

sieve  . . 
seive  . . 
sive  . .  . 
ceive    . . 


64 

4 


66 
2 

2 


45 

18 

6 


33 
2 


31 
2 
2 
2 


21 
10 

5 


SOURCES    OF   ERRORS 


27 


Spelling 


Frequency  of  Occurrence 


,£3 


a 


SIV     

seeve    

scive    

siev    

sceve    

seieve 

cib    

shaney   

shafe    

(omitted)    . . . 

nervous    

nerveous    .... 

nervious 

nervice 

nervess    

nervase    

neverous    .... 

neriyous 

(illegible)    . . . 

encouragement 
encouragment 
encourgement 
engarrment  . . 
injurment  . . . 
encoerrgement 
encourgment  . 


67 


64 
6 


31 
4 
3 


33 
6 


17 

5 
I 

2 

2 

I 
I 
I 

16 

4 
6 
I 
I 
I 
I 


28    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 


Frequency  of  Occurrpnce 


Spelling 


awful  . . . . . 

aw  full    . . . . 

auful    

awefull  .  .  . 
auwfull    . . , 

awfle    

awfiful  . .  . . 
auffell    .... 

affull    

offel   

offul 

offull    

(illegible)    . 

argument  . . 
arguement  . 
aurguement 
argement  . . 
argurment  . 
humment  . . 
(omitted)    , 

dismayed  . . 
dismade  . . . 
dismaid  . . . 
dismay  . . . . 
desmayed  . . 
desmaied  . . 
dismeyed  . . 


65 


59 
II 


69 


32 

3 
I 


32 
6 


28 
2 

4 
2 
I 


22 
I 
2 


I 
I 

I 
I 
I 

22 

4 
I 
I 
I 
I 


13 
9 

4 
I 


SOURCES   OF   ERRORS 


29 


(lismayence    

dismaided    

dissmayed    

dimayed 

betrayal   

betrail    

betrayel    

(other   purely   individ- 
ual errors)    

benefited    

benefitted 

benifited  

benifitted   

benifit    

benefitied 

benafated 

benifetted    

benefitting   

benfitting 

benfited    

benififted 

binefited 


64 
2 

3 


33 

8 

4 


24 
6 
6 


18 

II 

6 


17 
2 


The  above  eleven  words,  tabulated  in  their  vari- 
ous forms,  were  chosen  at  random  from  the  list 
of  fifty  given  to  the  students ;  and  they  illustrate 


30    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

most,  if  not  all,  of  the  principles  to  be  brought 
out  in  this  chapter.  A  few  of  the  words,  which 
showed  the  greatest  variety  of  odd  misspellings, 
were  excluded  from  the  eleven  presented  above  in 
order  to  save  space. 

A  study  of  this  table  of  misspellings  reveals  a 
number  of  principles.  In  the  first  place,  most  read- 
Prevalence  of  €^s  will  be  willing  to  admit  that 
chance  errors  j^  respect  to  practically  every 
word  there  are  evidences  of  chance  errors  due  to 
slips  of  the  pen,  misunderstanding  of  the  word,  or 
both.  Scarcely  any  one  will  maintain  that  the  wri- 
ters of  such  forms  as  anxsion,  cih,  sJianey,  shafe, 
neveroiis,  engarrment,  injurment,  humment,  dismay- 
ence,  dismay,  dismaided  and  benefifted  were  trying 
to  write  the  precise  words  they  were  asked  to  spell. 
The  misunderstanding  may  have  been  due  to  faulty 
pronunciation  by  the  teacher,  or  it  may  be  that 
the  ear  of  the  pupil  was  at  fault.  Again,  it  may 
have  been  d"ue  to  the  apperceptive  difficulty  most 
of  us  experience  when  we  hear  a  name  or  isolated 
word.  In  such  spellings  as  forhcad  and  thorn  (for 
foreign),  and  personly  (for  piercing)  it  is  evident 
that  the  pupil  read  a  wrong  meaning  into  the  sounds 
which  he  thought  he  heard. 

Slips    of    the    pen    are    accountable    for    some 

errors.      Thorm    shows    the    common    occurrence 

of  w  when  n  is  intended ;  and 
Slips  of  the  pen 

the    reverse    is    as    often    true. 

Dimayed   represents   another   very   common   mis- 


SOURCES    OF   ERRORS  31 

lake,  the  hand  omitting  a  letter  in  order  to 
abbreviate  the  process  of  writing.  There  is  strong 
probabiHty  of  the  same  thing  being  true  for 
argemenf,  benfited  and  benfitting.  Sometimes  this 
curtailment  takes  place  at  the  end  of  a  word,  as 
in  siv,  although  this  explanation  is  especially  per- 
tinent to  such  a  form  as  freigh  (for  freight),  the 
gh  being  so  common  a  termination  that  it  often 
automatically  asserts  itself  in  wrong  places.  A  let- 
ter from  a  county  superintendent  recently  received 
by  one  of  the  writers  contained  three  successive 
words  with  the  last  letter  omitted.  Most  students 
in  taking  rapidly  the  notes  for  a  lecture  are  liable 
to  use  the  for  they,  them,  etc.  What  we  call 
"carelessness"  accounts  ordinarily  for  such  lapses 
in  writing  a  spelling  lesson  in  column,  unless  the 
pupil  is  greatly  hurried. 

Preicing  (for  piercing^  and  mielage  (for  mile- 
age) illustrate  another  sort  of  error  in  spelling,  the 
inversion  of  the  order  of  the  letters.  But  the 
shifting  about  of  the  g  in  foreign  can  hardly  be 
attributed  to  the  same  cause.  The  silent  letter,  by 
virtue  of  the  very  fact  that  it  is  silent,  is  liable 
to  suffer  all  sorts  of  displacement.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  the  same  trick,  inversion  of  literal  or- 
der, is  sometimes  played  by  one's  vocal  organs,  as 
common  observation  shows,  not  only  with  reference 
to  oral  spelling  but  also  with  reference  to  words 
and  expressions,  such  as  the  famous  "Peter  Piper" 
jingle.    Not  only  does  a  pupil  change,  the  order  of 


32    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

letters  occasionally,  or  skip  a  letter  or  syllable  in 
order  to  facilitate  execution,  but  the  process  is  some- 
times reversed,  resulting  in  the  repetition  of  a 
phrase,  word  or  portion  of  a  word  in  the  writing 
of  connected  discourse.  To  this  cause  is  due  such 
a  spelling  as  convey anance  (for  conveyance). 

Several  of  these  types  of  mistakes  have  been 
mentioned  because  they  occur  so  frequently  in  every 
Treatment  schoolroom.      A    teacher   should 

of  lapses  regard    them    simply    as    lapses, 

which  may  not  occur  the  second  time  with  the  same 
individual.  Of  course,  if  the  same  error  does  occur 
again,  the  chances  are  that  it  is  not  a  lapse;  but 
a  wise  teacher  can  not  permit  his  attention  to  be 
distracted  by  mere  lapses  from  the  real  points  at 
issue  in  teaching  a  list  of  words.  Teachers  often 
fail  to  differentiate  these  "pen-slips"  from  errors 
due  to  lack  of  knowledge.  Often,  too,  teachers 
mark  as  absolutely  wrong  a  word  which,  although 
written  incorrectly  originally,  was  seen  to  be  incor- 
rect by  the  pupil,  and  voluntarily  corrected  before 
the  time  for  the  submission  of  the  work.  Many 
lapses  are  detected  in  this  way  by  those  who  com- 
mit them.  On  such  a  theory  of  grading,  a  con- 
tractor would  penalize  one  of  his  bricklayers  just 
as  heavily  for  tearing  down  a  defective  portion  of 
a  wall  as  for  building  the  superstructure  upon  it 
without  remedying  the  defect.  It  is  probable  that 
such  lapses  as  have  been  described  are  in  no  way 
related  to  real  errors;  and  they  can  not  be  wholly 


SOURCES   OF   ERRORS  33 

overcome,  unless  facility  in  expression  be  seriously 
interfered  with  by  giving  too  much  attention  to  the 
technique  of  writing. 

In  the  teaching  of  spelling  in  our  public  schools, 
a  distinction  should  be  made  between  lapses  and 
real  errors.  Each  must  be  penalized,  but  not  in 
equal  measure.  Certain  forms  of  lapses  may  be- 
come individual  characteristics.  One  subject  has 
been  observed  in  whose  writing  think  tends  always 
to  be  written  thing.  A  university  student  recently 
complained  that  he  had  to  fight  constantly  against 
interchanging  for  each  other  d  and  g,  both  in  pre- 
paring manuscript  and  in  typewriting.  These  in- 
stances are  given  to  show  the  likelihood  that  a 
careful  record  of  misspellings  may  enable  a  teacher 
in  time  to  detect  the  characteristic  lapses  of  certain 
pupils,  so  that  the  latter  may  be  put  on  their  guard, 
and  asked  to  go  over  their  work  in  order  to  check 
up  on  their  special  failings.  Most  teachers  find 
by  experience  that  the  vague  unparticularized  com- 
mand, "Look  over  your  work,"  can  secure  only 
meager  results  at  best. 

Let  us  leave  out  of  consideration  the  particular 
misspellings  which  occur  but  a  single  time  in  the 
lists  of  Table  II,  as  being  for  the  most  part  lapses, 
and  see  whether  or  not  among  the  other  misspell- 
ings, those  due  to  lack  of  knowledge,  the  compara- 
tive popularity  of  certain  errors  may  not  be  clearly 
established.  In  arranging  the  table,  there  was  an 
attempt  made  to  place  the  misspellings  in  the  gen- 


34    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

eral  order  of  their  frequency,  the  most  common 
ones  standing  first.  One  striking  fact  relates  to 
the  great  difference  in  relative  number  of  the  vari- 
ous misspellings  of  a  word,  which  must  be  due 
to  a  marked  tendency  of  pupils  to  commit  some 
particular  error.  Another  suggestive  fact  is  that  the 
order  of  frequency  of  the  misspellings  of  any  word 
is  almost  exactly  the  same  for  all  three  groups 
of  students.  There  would  appear,  then,  to  be  in 
the  constitution  of  certain  words  special  difficulties 
which  are  a  source  of  trouble  to  a  majority  of 
children  learning  to  spell. 

It  is  not  always  possible  to  tell  just  which  mis- 
takes are  due  to  lack  of  knowledge  and  which  to 
Is  there  a  critical  lapse ;  but  taking  the  situation  as 
point  in  a  word?  ^yg  fin^  it,  let  US  see  whether  a 
study  of  the  frequency  of  different  errors  will  not 
enable  us  to  determine  critical  points,  or  perhaps 
the  critical  point  in  a  given  word,  so  that  if  some 
particular  letter  or  brief  combination  of  letters  be 
properly  impressed,  the  misspelling  of  that  word 
will  be  likely  to  be  corrected.  Seven  out  of  twelve 
pupils  who  missed  ancient  did  so  because  the  com- 
bination ie  was  not  thoroughly  familiar,  and  with 
four  of  the  seven  it  was  merely  a  question  of  the 
order  of  the  two  letters.  Twenty-seven  missed 
foreign,  four  of  them  trying  to  spell  something 
else.  Of  the  other  twenty-three,  the  failure  of  ten 
was  due  solely  to  the  reversal  of  the  letters  ei. 
Twenty-four  students  missed  piercing,  two  of  them 


SOURCES   OF   ERRORS  35 

probably  by  chance.  Eight  of  the  others  failed 
solely  by  reversing  the  letters  ei,  six  by  retaining 
final  e  and  three  by  combining  the  two  forms  of 
error.  Half  of  those  missing  sieve  spelled  it  seive, 
and  over  a  fourth  made  it  sive.  The  other  errors 
vi^ere  peculiar  and  exceptional,  save  for  ceive,  which 
appeared  three  times.  Again,  of  twenty-four  errors 
in  writing  nervous,  ten  made  it  ncrveous,  and  five 
others  wrote  nervious,  thus  showing  the  difficulty 
to  be  at  the  same  place  in  the  word  in  every  case. 
Out  of  twenty-six  mistakes  in  writing  encourage^ 
ment,  sixteen  were  written  encouragmenf.  Argue- 
ment  is  the  only  misspelling  of  argument  that  is 
not  strictly  individual.  These  and  similar  cases 
that  could  be  cited  from  the  list  of  fifty  words, 
show  that  from  one-third  to  two-thirds  of  all  diffi- 
culties in  spelling  lie  at  the  point  of  a  word  covered 
by  some  rule  relating  to  it. 

Underlying  much  of  the  belief  in  the  value  of 
the  teaching  of  rules  has  been  the  assumption  that 

^     .  ,      .  they  relate  to  the  points  of  chief 

Crucial  points  •'  ,  ^ 

often  not  covered  difficulty  m  the  words  to  which 
^  ^^  ^^  they  refer.    Some  data  bearing  on 

thijs  matter  may  be  gained  from  an  examination  of 
the  spelling  of  a  number  of  the  fifty  words  already 
given.  The  retention  of  e,  as  in  cnveftdl,  appeared 
in  only  two  of  twenty  cases  of  misspellings  of 
this  word,  but  the  much  less  commonly  taught  rule 
(full  does  not  occur  as  a  suffix),  was  violated  by 
a  majority  of  the  twenty  students.     In  benefited. 


36    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

tt  appears  in  violation  of  the  rule  fifty-eight 
times;  but  beni,  in  violation  of  no  rule,  occurs 
thirty-five  times.  Thus  the  difficulties  are  some- 
what evenly  distributed.  In  buried  the  results  are 
quite  different.  Twelve  out  of  twenty-six  doubled 
the  r,  and  eight  others  combined  it  with  another 
error.  But  only  two  violated  the  special  rule  re- 
lating to  the  retaining  of  the  3;  in  bury.  Out  of 
fifty-seven  students  who  made  errors  in  spelling 
essayist,  thirty  wrote  cssayest,  while  only  eighteen 
violated  the  rule  by  omitting  y.  Eight  of  the 
eighteen  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  broken  the  rule, 
since  they  did  not  write  anything  that  could  be 
recognized  by  a  person  not  knowing  what  word  was 
given  out.  Forty-two  missed  exhibition,  but  only 
one  did  so  by  violating  the  rule  covering  the  doub- 
ling of  the  final  consonant.  Thirty-eight  had  no 
h  in  their  spelling.  In  foreign,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  omission  of  silent  g  was  too  unusual  to  create 
a  problem.  In  concurrence,  ance  is  a  markedly  more 
prevalent  error  than  the  failure  to  double  the  r  as 
required  by  the  rule.  So  if  one  were  to  say  that 
the  critical  point  in  the  spelling  of  those  words  that 
come  under  some  rule  is  always  the  point  covered 
by  the  rule,  one  would  not  be  in  accord  with  the 
facts. 

A  few  words  in  the  list  show  a  great  diversity 
of  genuine  misspellings,  but  the  errors  are  usually 
localized  at  one  or  two  points  in  the  words.  Of 
about  twenty  misspellings  of  grievance,  there  were 


SOURCES   OF   ERRORS  37 

only  two  that  did  not  preserve  the  consonant  skele- 
ton gr-v-nce.  In  thirteen  misspellings  of  pitiable 
nearly  all  the  trouble  centered  in  the  doubling  of 
the  t,_  and  following  it  with  the  wrong  vowel.  It 
may  be  concluded  that  for  ordinary  words  of  three 
or  four  syllables,  there  is  a  single  letter  or  diphthong 
that  causes  most  of  the  trouble,  and  that  it  is 
altogether  unusual  to  find  more  than  two  crucial 
points  in  a  common  word.  It  is  plain  that  a 
knowledge  of  rules  simply  does  not  inform  the 
teacher  where  the  stress  in  teaching  particular  words 
is  to  be  laid ;  nor  does  the  presence  of  a  silent  letter 
or  the  possible  doubling  of  a  consonant  necessarily 
lay  bare  the  source  of  difficulty.  Every  word  pre- 
senting serious  problems  to  the  novice  must  be 
studied  by  itself,  and  the  teacher  can  deal  with  it 
effectively  only  after  examining  the  misspellings  to 
see  where  the  crucial  points  are.  This  can  be  done 
by  any  one  who  will  tabulate  the  frequency  of  as 
many  as  fifty  cases  of  misspelling  of  a  word,  though 
a  smaller  number  will  be  suggestive. 

The  discovery  of  the  causes  of  error  in  spelling 
is  the  next  step  to  be  considered.  This  is  an 
Mispronunciation  easier  matter  than  to  locate  crucial 
as  a  cause  of  error  points.  The  cause  of  an  error  can 
ordinarily  be  detected  from  its  character  by  teachers 
of  experience.  Few  teachers  need  to  be  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  correct  pronunciation  of 
words  to  be  spelled.  The  spelling  exercise  will  al- 
most daily  bring  to  light  some  errors  due  to  mispro- 


38    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

nunciation  by  the  teacher,  or  by  the  pupils  them- 
selves. Anchint  is  very  likely  a  phonetic  spelling  of  a 
mispronunciation  of  ancient.  Outside  of  a  few 
words  of  French  origin,  ch  almost  never  has  the 
sound  sh.  The  same  cause  of  error  in  spelling  is  seen 
in  percing  and  perssing,  and  probably  in  nerivous. 
The  spelling  of  encourgement  six  times  and  en- 
courgment  once  by  the  high-school  freshmen  shows 
a  lack  of  distinct  articulation  which  among  the 
younger  students  is  a  common  practise.  Even 
adults  who  give  the  a  in  courage  a  distinct  value, 
tend  to  slight  it  or  wholly  to  elide  it  in  the  longer 
forms,  such  as  encouragement,  discouragement,  and 
the  variations  of  the  verbs  from  which  these  two 
nouns  are  derived.  Des-  in  dismayed  is  another 
error  due  to  mispronunciation.  Benafated  and  heni- 
fetted  illustrate  the  same  principle,  as  disclosed  by 
the  vowel  after  /.  The  easiest  and  surest  method 
for  a  teacher  to  test  the  question  of  pronunciation  is 
to  ask  a  child  to  pronounce  a  misspelling  just  after 
he  has  written  it.  Oral  spelling,  of  course,  offers 
ready  means  of  making  such  a  test. 

There  can  be  no  danger  in  insisting  that  all  words 
to  be  spelled  by  a  pupil  should  be  pronounced  cor- 
rectly by  him  as  the  first  step  in  the  lesson  study. 
Even  then  it  will  be  found  that  errors  such  as 
unaminous  for  unanimous  will  appear  now  and 
again,  because  pupils  can  not  or  at  least  do  not 
hold  the  pronunciation  faithfully  in  mind  as  they 
write.    Errors  due  to  mispronunciation  are  not  so 


SOURCES    OF    ERRORS  39 

numerous  as  those  due  to  other  causes  which  we 
shall  discuss  later.  They  are,  however,  of  much 
greater  frequency  and  importance  in  the  lower 
grades  of  the  elementary  school  than  in  the  high 
school,  for  many  of  them  have  been  acquired  by 
the  child  before  school  age. 

It  is  peculiarly  difficult  to  forecast  what  are  the 
probable  mispronunciations  that  will  occur  in  the 
case  of  certain  words,  since  two  different  sets  of 
influences  produce  these  errors.  On  the  one  hand, 
we  have  those  individual  associations  made  by  each 
child  for  himself,  such  as  caused  one  child  to  call 
a  screen  door  "a  scream  door,"  because,  as  she 
afterward  stated,  it  made  such  a  noise  when  it 
closed.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  the  peculiar 
survivals  of  the  nature  of  dialect  in  the  speech  of 
every  child,  reflecting  the  idiosyncrasies  in  the 
spoken  language  of  his  family  and  friends. 

A  most  fruitful  cause  of  errors  in  spelling  is 
phonetic  analogy.  Persons  with  whom  the  auditory 
Analogies  in  factor    predominates    are    much 

spelling  subject  to  this  difficulty.     Some- 

times the  analogy  covers  only  a  brief  phonetic  unit, 
while  at  otjier  times  a  word  is  taken  over  entire. 
Antient  shows  the  persistence  of  the  common  ele- 
ment ti,  phonetically  equivalent  to  sh.  Pearcing  is 
the  result  either  of  drawing  an  analogy  from  ear, 
fear,  dear,  etc.,  or  it  comes  directly  from  the  proper 
name  Pearce.  Words  having  the  suffix  -less  or 
-ness  may  have  been  the  cause  of  the  spelling  of 


40    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

nervous  as  nervess;  and  novice  and  service  may 
explain  nervice.  A  very  special  case  is  presented 
by  the  like  sounds  of  certain  consonants  or  com- 
binations of  consonants,  as  in  the  case  of  anscient, 
where  sci  is  inferred  from  conscience.  Likewise, 
the  various  uses  oi  c,  s  and  sc  produced  considerable 
confusion  in  sieve.  The  alternative  oi  s  or  2  is 
troublesome  in  some  words  not  noted  above,  as,  for 
example,  seizure. 

Another  factor  is  introduced  when  a  child 
takes  over  a  word  as  a  whole  on  account  of 
phonetic  analogy,  as  ceaseur  (for  seizure),  piece- 
able  (for  peaceable),  berried  (for  buried),  dis^ 
made  and  dismaid  (for  dismayed).  The  pu- 
pil usually  disregards  the  content  of  both  the 
word  transferred,  and  of  the  word  to  which 
he  makes  the  transfer.  This  is  not  the  case 
with  the  writing  of  full  in  awful,  since  the  signifi- 
cance of  awful  is  actually  "full  of  awe";  but  it  is 
true  of  off  in  offull  (for  awful).  And  when  piece 
enters  into  peaceable,  maid  or  made  into  dismayed, 
trail  into  betrayal,  and  fitted  into  benefited,  we  have 
the  incorporation  into  one  word  of  another  word 
altogether  extraneous  to  the  situation  in  which  it 
is  placed.  Such  mistakes  tend  to  decrease  with  the 
development  of  a  critical  attitude  toward  one's 
language.  When  a  student  begins  to  diagnose  his 
mother  tongue,  the  idea  of  cori'tent  comes  to  dom- 
inate in  word  composition,  and  he  resists  phonic 
analogies  which  have  no  regard  to  content.  The  in- 


SOURCES   OF   ERRORS  41 

troduction  of  a  foreign  language,  especially  German, 
into  the  elementary  school  should  be  helpful  in  giv- 
ing students  this  attitude.  Younger  students  can 
not  be  placed  on  their  guard  too  fully  against  think- 
ing they  may  cite  this  or  that  word  as  a  justification 
for  the  spelling  of  another  word  in  a  particular 
manner.  There  is  only  one  real  authority,  and  that 
is  the  way  the  word  is  spelled.  Inferences  may  be 
drawn  only  from  such  other  words  as  have  a  sim- 
ilarity in  content. 

Many  teachers  have  recognized  as  a  cause  of 
error  the  obscure  or  elided  vowel,  i.  e.,  the  vowel 
Obscure  or  which,  though  not  silent,  has  its 

elided  vowels  sound  so  slurred  as  to  deprive  it 

of  individuality.  We  see  this  in  such  words  as 
separate,  infinite,  and  words  terminating  in  -able  or 
-ible.  The  learner's  tendency  is  to  interchange  i 
and  a,  or  to  substitute  e  for  either  of  them.  U  may 
sometimes  interfere,  but  scarcely  ever  does  0.  In 
some  spelling-books,  lists  of  words  containing  such 
vowels  are  printed  or  written  with  the  difficult 
vowel  in  heavy  or  unique  type.  In  the  schoolroom 
they  are  often  written  on  the  blackboard  in  chalk 
of  a  different  color  from  the  bpdy  of  the  word. 
But  it  is  safe  to  assert  that  few  teachers  in  the 
elementary  school  recognize  that  the  obscure  vowel 
is  always  a  possible  source  of  error.  The  writers 
have  found  by  experience  that  they  can  not  detect 
by  a  cursory  examination  all  of  these  letters  in  lists 
of  words  in  spelling  lessons ;  they  can  be  discovered 


42    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

only  after  painstaking  search.  One  would  hardly 
think  the  second  vowel  in  benefit  would  give  trouble, 
but  the  writers  found  it  to  be  so  in  thirty-five  out 
of  eighty- four  misspellings  of  the  word.  Final  e 
in  a  number  of  monosyllables  does  not  have  any 
sound  whatever  in  itself,  but  it  might  be  considered 
as  one  type  of  elided  vowel,  because  it  modifies  the 
pronunciation  of  the  word.  It  is  not  often  omitted 
by  mistake,  however,  probably  on  account  of  the 
prominence  of  its  position.  Every  obscure  vowel 
ought  to  be  presented  with  stress  from  the  start; 
either  by  positive  means,  such  as  fixing  the  impres- 
sion by  auditory  and  visual  stimuli,  intense  and  re- 
peated, or  by  the  negative  method  of  warning 
against  the  use  of  other  letters  which  the  pupil  might 
be  inclined  to  employ  in  its  place.  The  latter  method 
will  further  on  be  shown  to  have  its  dangers;  and 
if  it  be  employed  at  all,  it  must  be  closely  watched 
for  its  effects. 

The  mistake  of  doubling  a  letter  happens  much 
less  frequently  with  the  vowels  than  with  the  con- 

_     , ,.      ,  sonants,     probably    because     the 

Doubling  letters         ,      ,  ,    ,  ,     ,  ,•     •     . 

doubled    vowel    has    a    distmct- 

ive  sound  in  the  case  of  oo.  The  other  vowels,  except 
e,  are  not  commonly  doubled.  But  most  of  the  con- 
sonants are  frequently  doubled,  and  the  result  is  not 
apparent  from  the  pronunciation  of  a  word.  The 
place  where  doubling  is  likely  to  occur  is  usually  in 
the  middle  of  a  word  where  a  syllable  stops  or 
begins  with  a  certain  consonant.    The  mistake  arises 


SOURCES    OF   ERRORS  43 

in  assigning  the  consonant  to  each  of  the  two  ad- 
jacent syllables,  as  singging  (for  singeing),  millage 
(for  mileage),  pittiable  {lor  pitiable) ,  furrious  (for 
furious)  and  hurried  (for  buried).  Following  the 
same  principle,  one  member  of  a  double  consonant 
may  be  dropped  under  like  circumstances,  as  der- 
ick  (for  derrick),  stopage  (for  stoppage)  and  re- 
belion  (for  rebellion). 

Just  what  corrective  measures,  if  any,  are  espe- 
cially adapted  to  counteracting  this  difficulty,  can  not 
be  stated  with  confidence.  It  is  impossible  to  form- 
ulate rules  for  doubling  letters  that  shall  cover  any 
large  number  of  cases  without  numerous  exceptions. 
For  a  discussion  of  the  efficacy  of  such  rules  the 
reader  is  referred  to  Chapter  II.  Directing  the  at- 
tention upon  the  crucial  points  is  recommended,  as 
in  the  case  of  elided  vowels.  Special  stress  on 
double  combinations,  by  means  of  oral  spelling  with- 
out regard  to  syllabication,  might  prove  very  helpful 
as  a  means  of  fixing  the  doubled  letter,  especially 
for  those  in  whom  auditory  imagery  is  strong.  The 
method  might  be,  for  example,  as  follows:  Have 
pupils  spell  coffee — "c-o-  double  /-  double  e,"  or 
village — "v-i  double  l-a-g-e,"  and  so  on. 

This  brings  us  to  an  important  principle  con- 
nected   with    spelling    that    is    closely    related    to 

Types  of  letters        '^''^^^^    ^^"'^'    ""^    ^"■^'"-       J"'* 
half     the     letters     of     the     al- 
phabet are  "single-space"  letters.     Six  rise  more 
than  one  space  above  the  base  line,  five  pass  below 


44    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

it  bat  only  a  single  space  above  it,  while  /  and  p 
stretch  both  above  and  below  the  "single-space"  let- 
ters. In  printing,  /  and  p  fall  into  one  of  the 
three  distinct  classes,  but  the  classification  here  has 
regard  only  to  writing.  Considering  the  last  two 
letters  as  hybrids  or  combinations,  we  have  the  three 
types  of  letters — the  "ascender,"  the  "single-space" 
and  the  "descender."  Now,  if  any  ordinary  writing 
be  examined,  two-thirds  of  the  letters  occurring 
will  be  found  to  be  of  the  single-space  variety. 
Most  of  the  others  will  be  "ascenders."  But  it  is 
plain  that  either  the  first  or  the  third  class  of  letters 
will  stand  out  more  prominently  than  the  second, 
just  as  a  pedestrian  of  uncommon  color,  garb  or 
language  will  be  more  marked  than  one  who 
is  conventional  in  these  respects.  It  is  likewise  true 
that  the  further  removed  such  a  letter  is  from  others 
of  its  kind  in  a  given  word,  the  more  prominently 
it  will  stand  forth. 

This  principle  explains  why,  in  the  various  mis- 
spellings of  such  a  word  as  ancient,  most  students 
made  mistakes  which  did  not  interfere  seriously 
with  the  visual  image  of  the  word,  i.  e.,  they 
maintained  the  succession  of  single-space  letters. 
In  foreign  the  visual  impression  made  by  g,  rather 
isolated  from  other  unusual  and  striking  letters, 
causes  it  to  be  found,  rightly  or  wrongly  placed, 
in  nearly  every  misspelling  of  the  word.  On  the 
other  hand,  exhibition  presents  an  alternating  series 
of  short  and  tall  letters,  and  the  omission  or  mis- 


SOURCES    OF    ERRORS  45 

placing  of  h  does  not  seriously  affect  the  visual 
image.  This  also  accounts  for  the  difficulty  in 
doubling  or  not  doubling  letters,  the  substitution  of 
one  vowel  for  another  when  the  sound  is  obscured, 
and  the  confusion  oi  c,  s  and  sc,  though  it  does 
not  explain  the  interchanging  of  .$•  and  s.  To  illus- 
trate further,  if  ^^  were  written  old  style,  we  should 
be  much  less  likely  to  find  pasion  (for  passion), 
or  if  e  after  n  were  a  "descender,"  we  should  not 
have  found  benifit  thirty-five  times  in  our  list  of 
misspellings. 

Dividing    a    word    into    syllables    may    act    as 
a    preventive    of    error    to    the    extent    that    it 

_  secures      correct      pronunciation, 

Syllabication  i        ,      ,  ,  •     •  <• 

and     checks     the     omission     or 

syllables  in  long  words.  Yet  it  may  well  be 
asked  whether  the  short  e  in  benefited^  for 
example,  is  more  likely  to  be  remembered  because 
ben-  is  recalled  as  the  first  syllable  instead  of  be-, 
or  whether,  as  in  the  case  of  one  of  the  writers, 
ben-  is  recalled  as  constituting  the  first  syllable  be- 
cause the  correct  pronunciation  is  remembered.  This 
difficulty  would  not  exist  if  ben-  were  visually  pre- 
sented as  a  distinct  syllable  just  as  often  as  the 
auditory  element  is  repeated  by  speaking  the  word, 
hearing  it  spoken,  or  writing  it.  But  ben-  as  a 
visual  entity  disappears  from  consciousness  as  soon 
as  the  pupil  turns  from  the  spelling  lesson,  while 
the  word  remains  as  a  unit  in  audition,  in  content, 
and  most  of  all,  in  vision. 


46    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

Whether  this  view  is  sound  or  not,  it  can  not 
be  denied  that  syllabication  is  often  merely  arbitrary 
as  far  as  pronunciation  is  concerned,  whereas  it  is 
usually  thought  by  adults  to  be  fully  in  accord  with 
the  phonetic  character  of  words.  To  adults  there 
is  no  inconsistency  in  saying  that  such  a  combina- 
tion as  betrail  consists  of  two  syllables;  while  be- 
trayal, of  course,  contains  three.  But  a  child  can 
write  them  interchangeably  and  see  no  violation  of 
phonetics,  just  as  when  a  boy  writes  mechanisem 
(for  mechanism).  The  almost  universal  resistance 
of  children's  minds  to  proper  syllabication  indicates 
that  it  is  a  matter  of  unusual  psychological  signifi- 
cance and  that  it  should  be  regarded  with  due  cau- 
tion as  an  aid  to  correct  spelling. 

If  the  propositions  so  far  advanced  have  been 

true  in  the  main — if  each  word  presents  a  special 

_,.     ^.        ^^  complex  of  visual  and   auditory 

Directing  atten-  ^  ■' 

tion  to  the  crucial  elements,  different  from  all  other 
point  in  each  word  ^ords— there  will  necessarily  be 
unique  features  or  factors  in  the  teaching  of 
each  word.  For  example,  in  the  teaching  of 
ancient  one  should  call  special  attention  to  the 
sh  sound  in  pronunciation  and  note  the  spelling 
in  this  case;  ie  also  should  be  stressed.  Foreign 
will  not  be  found  hard  to  pronounce  correctly,  but 
the  ei  should  be  made  the  stressing  point,  not  simply 
in  itself,  but  in  relation  to  the  shifting  g.  In 
benefited  the  second  e  must  be  presented  with  force 
from  the  start.    If  this  be  done,  probably  the  i  will 


SOURCES   OF   ERRORS  47 

never  appear,  for  there  are  no  common  words  in 
beni-.  But  citing  several  common  ones  like  benefi- 
cial, benevolence  and  benediction  might  strengthen 
the  correct  impression.  The  tt  in  benefitted  can  not 
be  so  well  dealt  with  on  a  visual  or  auditory  basis, 
but  the  element  of  content  may  be  invoked  by  show- 
ing the  words  fit,  unfit,  misfit,  discussing  their  re- 
lation to  one  another,  bringing  out  the  tt  in  the 
appropriate  form  of  each,  and  then  dissociating  the 
content,  hence  the  spelling  of  benefit  from  the  con- 
tent and  spelling  of  these  other  words.  Such  is 
the  type  of  "word  study"  that  must  come  to  have 
a  place  in  every  schoolroom  in  which  spelling  is 
taught. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  LIFE  HISTORY  OF   CERTAIN  SPELLINGS 

IT  is  desired  to  show  in  this  chapter  just  what 
stages  a  group  of  boys  passed  through  in  learn- 
ing a  list  of  about  seventy  words  chosen  from  a 
Words  assigned  widely-used  spelling  text.  The 
in  experiments  subjects  of  this  experiment  were 
the  four  boys  mentioned  in  Chapter  I.  A  daily 
assignment  was  made  for  five  successive  days.  The 
experimenter  wrote  the  words  on  the  board  in  "fam- 
ilies" as  he  called  them,  such  as  inspire,  ifis/>iration; 
mechanism,  mechanic,  mechanical,  and  so  on.  There 
were  from  six  to  twelve  such  groups  in  each  day's 
lesson.  The  original  intention  was  to  present  a 
series  of  twenty  or  twenty-five  lessons  by  five  dif- 
ferent methods,  following  one  another  in  a  constant 
order,  as  a  basis  for  determining  the  comparative 
merits  of  the  different  methods  of  presentation ;  but 
the  text-book  list  was  so  far  beyond  the  ability  of 
the  class,  and,  it  is  believed,  so  far  beyond  that  of 
the  ordinary  child  for  whom  it  is  designed,  that 
it  was  decided  at  the  end  of  the  fifth  lesson  to 
concentrate  upon  these  seventy-five  words,  and  see 

48 


THE  LIFE  HISTORY  49 

what  experiences  the  pupils  must  have  in  order  to 
master  them. 

All  preparation  of  spelling  lessons  was  done  dur- 
ing the  class  hour.  The  first  two  lessons  the  experi- 
„  .  menter    pronounced    and    spelled 

presentation  Orally,    the    class    spelling   orally 

and  study  ^^^  pronouncing  after  him.     For 

the  first  lesson,  sentences  containing  the  words  were 
used  in  the  study,  and  for  the  second,  definitions 
were  given,  but  no  words  were  used  in  sentences. 
The  third  lesson  was  pronounced  and  spelled  orally 
by  the  experimenter,  and  the  pupils  were  told  to 
study  it  as  they  pleased.  All  of  them  did  as  com- 
mon observation  shows  most  pupils  do  when  left 
to  their  own  resources  to  prepare  their  spelling  les- 
sons— they  simply  looked  at  the  words  on  the  board, 
and  presumably  "said  them  over  to  themselves." 
The  content  of  the  words  was  not  referred  to  dur- 
ing this  lesson.  For  the  fourth  and  fifth  lessons 
the  pupils  looked  at  the  words  and  their  definitions 
and  heard  them  pronounced,  but  they  were  not 
asked  to  pronounce  them  themselves.  They  then 
wrote  the  words  on  the  board,  using  those  in  the 
fourth  lesson  in  sentences  so  far  as  time  permitted. 
The  words  of  the  fifth  lesson  were  not  written  in 
sentences.  To  sum  up,  the  third  lesson  was  a  go- 
as-you-please  one  of  the  old  type,  while  the  other 
four  were  half  of  the  contextual  and  half  of  the 
column  type.  Two  of  them  were  recited  orally  and 
two  were  written. 


50    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

Each  lesson  was  written  in  a  test  the  day  after 
it  was  studied.  The  first  lesson  was  written  in  sen- 
Methods  of  tences  constructed  by  the  class, 
recitation  but  the  other  lessons  were  done 
in  columns.  This  interval  of  a  day  between  study- 
ing a  lesson  and  reciting  on  it  gave  any  well-defined 
errors  a  chance  to  ripen  in  consciousness  for  twenty- 
four  hours  before  they  were  written ;  though  in  the 
study  of  the  four  lessons  supervised,  all  errors  were 
instantly  corrected.  All  the  errors  made  in  the 
written  test  on  each  lesson  remained  undisturbed 
for  another  twenty-four  hours,  or  until  the  next 
day.  In  teaching  the  lesson,  points  which  the  ex- 
perimenter thought  might  prove  difficult  were 
stressed  in  various  ways.  A  vertical  line  was 
drawn  through  words  of  the  same  "family"  at  the 
point  where  their  likeness  ceased,  as  inspir\e,  in- 
spir\ation;  mechan\ism,  mechan\ic.  Double  or  silent 
letters  or  obscure  vowels  were  underlined,  as  intelli- 
gence, courageous,  infinite;  and  the  difference  in 
pronunciation  and  spelling  of  the  first  two  syllables 
of  such  words  as  mechan\ical  and  machin\ist  was 
emphasized. 

The  next  day  after  the  test  on  each  lesson,  the 
boys  were  called  on  to  spell  orally  the  words  they 
Methods  of  had  missed.    A  tally  was  kept  to 

correction  show  whether,  when  a  word  had 

been  misspelled  originally,  the  same  incorrect  form 
was  given  now,  or  a  different  one,  or  whether  the 
correct  spelling  was  given  now  or  approved  when 


THE   LIFE    HISTORY  51 

presented.  Each  word  in  its  correct  form  was 
placed  on  the  board  by  the  experimenter  before  it 
was  left  for  good. 

When  the  five  lessons  had  thus  been  corrected, 
and  it  was  determined  to  continue  work  at  length 
on  the  difficult  words  instead  of  presenting  new 
ones,  the  entire  list  was  again  written  in  columns 
without  any  further  study.  A  very  thorough  re- 
view was  then  begun.  The  test  papers  were  re- 
turned to  the  boys,  and  every  word  that  had  been 
missed  by  any  one  was  written  correctly  on  the 
board  by  all.  Each  word  was  now  for  the  first  time 
divided  into  syllables,  all  the  boys  showing  some 
skill  in  this.  Correct  pronunciation  of  each  word 
was  required.  The  word  was  then  written  again 
in  a  sentence  suggested  by  the  class.  Every  boy 
was  required  to  underline  that  part  of  any  word 
in  which  his  mistake  had  occurred.  The  whole  list 
was  next  written  in  test  for  the  third  time.  Only 
contextual  spelling  was  attempted.  The  meaning 
of  the  words  now  seemed  to  be  so  clear  to  the  class 
that  in  the  next  review-study  there  was  no  context- 
ual work.  With  their  last  papers  in  their  hands, 
the  boys  took  each  word  missed  by  them  individ- 
ually, and  wrote  it  on  the  board  twice.  If  a  word 
was  not  written  correctly  on  the  board  and  without 
much  hesitation  or  apparent  change  of  mind,  the 
boy  who  was  writing  it  continued  his  efforts  until 
he  could  execute  the  whole  word  without  a  slip. 


52     THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

After  this  the  fourth  and  final  test  was  made  by 
writing  the  words  again  in  sentences. 

Table  III  shows  the  general  progress  of  the  class 
from  start  to  finish  as  gaged  by  the  number  of 
words  missed  on  each  test. 


TABLE  III 

1st 

2nd 

3rd 

4th 

Pupil 

test 

test 

test 

test 

A 

57 

37 

33 

II 

B 

34 

(absent ) 

17 

C 

1 8* 

30 

24 

10 

D 

34 

36 

28 

II 

Barring  B,  who  missed  the  second  and  third 
tests  and  all  the  training  for  them,  the  rank  of  the 
Capacity  for  Other   three   continued   the   same 

improvement  up  to  the   last   test.      C  had   at 

the  beginning  a  feeling  of  superiority,  which  de- 
clined as  his  fellows  gained  on  him.  Both  C  and 
D  showed  an  actual  loss  from  the  first  to  the  sec- 
ond test,  but  elsewhere  there  was  a  steady  advance- 
ment. A  showed  the  greatest  capacity  for  improve- 
ment from  intensive  study  of  difficult  words,  and 
C  showed  the  least.  This  is  the  inverse  order  of 
their  abilities  to  spell  in  various  tests  which  they 
took  later  on. 

The  improvement  occurred  in  two  ways, — by  the 


"*  For  only  four  out  of  the  five  lessons- 


THE   LIFE    HISTORY  53 

gaining  of  new  words  and  by  the  retention  of  those 
already  spelled  correctly.  The  latter  shows  great 
variation  from  pupil  to  pupil.  Table  IV  indicates 
the  number  of  words  missed  on  any  test,  which  had 
been  spelled  correctly  on  the  preceding  test. 


TABLE  IV 

2nd       3rd       4th 

Pupil 

test       test      test     Total 

A 

2608 

B 

(absent)       6       (as  against  first  test) 

C 

10           9          3         22 

D 

9           8          I          18 

The  power  of  gaining  new  words  and  holding 
the  old  ones  seemed  to  be  correlated  closely  in  this 
Learning  and  intensive    training    series.      This 

retaining  raises  the  question,  often  debated, 

as  to  whether  the  slowest  learner  is  the  best  re- 
tainer. In  another  series  of  lessons,  discussed  from 
a  different  point  of  view  in  Chapter  VI,  very  inten- 
sive training  in  spelling  was  given  these  same  four 
subjects,  with  the  result  that  there  was  practically 
perfect  immediate  recall  of  all  words.  But  the 
course  of  lessons  was  extended  until  one  hundred 
sixty  words  were  presented.  Without  any  recall 
one  day  of  those  missed  the  day  before,  and  with 
a  considerably  longer  time  elapsing  between  the  first 
(daily)  test  and  the  second  (final)  test,  A  showed 
his  power  plainly  on  the  immediate  daily  recall, 


54    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

and  was  superior  to  all  the  others ;  but  on  the  final 
test,  when  the  entire  one  hundred  sixty  words  were 
written  without  review,  he  turned  out  to  be  the 
poorest  retainer  in  the  group.  So  it  appears  that 
A,  the  best  retainer  according  to  the  test  of  the 
present  chapter  (as  indicated  by  Table  IV)  is  the 
poorest  retainer  in  the  experiment  of  Chapter  VI. 
Evidently  the  different  results  in  these  tests  are 
due  to  the  different  conditions  of  the  two  experi- 
ments. One  set  of  conditions  was  just  suited  to 
A's  type  of  mind,  while  the  other  was  not.  He 
illustrates  a  kind  of  pupil  found  in  nearly  every 
class,  the  kind  of  pupil  whose  diligence  brings  sat- 
isfactory, sometimes  excellent,  results  in  the  daily 
work,  but  who  "never  does  well  on  examinations." 
Students  of  this  sort  may  correct  any  minor  mis- 
statement of  the  teacher  in  the  daily  geography  or 
history  lesson,  but  show  a  woeful  ignorance  of  the 
same  and  other  much  more  vital  points  at  the  time 
of  the  monthly  quiz.  No  answer  as  to  the  relation 
of  learning  and  retaining  appears  possible,  as  long 
as  we  aim  at  a  general  formula  that  shall  cover 
all  conditions  and  cases.  Generalizations  of  this 
character,  as  far  as  they  relate  to  spelling,  must 
be  accompanied  by  a  statement  of  the  intensiveness 
of  the  study,  the  number  of  times  of  recall,  and 
the  time  elapsing  between  tests. 

We  may  now  look  more  closely  into  the  question 
of  the  persistence  of  certain  mistakes  in  spelling 


THE  LIFE   HISTORY  55 

Persistence  made    by    this    group    of    boys, 

of  errors  Most   teachers   doubtless   have 

noted  how  a  misspelling  will  crop  out  again  and 
again  in  the  work  of  a  student,  even  though  he  may 
have  been  reminded  repeatedly  of  his  mistake.  The 
same  thing  appears  in  the  work  of  this  group.  In 
Table  V,  all  errors  have  been  tabulated  for  each 
individual  so  that  a  glance  across  the  page  will 
suggest  how  a  pupil  worked  out  a  certain  word, 
or  at  least  attempted  to  do  so,  through  the  whole 
four  tests.  The  notes  of  the  experimenter  made 
daily  as  to  special  difficulties  served  to  verify  the 
general  conclusions  drawn  below.  All  blanks  indi- 
cate correct  spelling.  Points  of  difficulty  are  itali- 
cized as  far  as  possible. 


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THE   LIFE    HISTORY  57 


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THE   LIFE    HISTORY 


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62    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


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Identical 

number 

mistakes  on  1st  a 

Pupil 

misspelled 

4th  tests 

A 

II 

2 

B 

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5 

C 

5 

4 

D 

lO 

6 

THE   LIFE   HISTORY  63 

The  tenacity  with  which  special  misspellings  per- 
sist is  evident  from  the  following  data  relative  to 
those  words  which  were  missed  on  both  the  first 
and  the  last  tests. 


Different 

mistakes  on  1st  and 

4th  tests 

9 
6 
I 

4 

Total..  37  17  20 

Table  VII,  giving  the  results  of  the  two  inter- 
mediate tests  while  B  was  absent,  shows  further 
how  misspellings  tend  to  persist. 

TABLE  VII 

A — 15  words  twice,  3  in  the  same  way,  12  differently 

A — 15  words  three  times,  none  in  the  same  way,  15  differently 
A — 11  words  four  times,  none  in  the  same  way,  11  differently 
C — 10  words  twice,  5  in  the  same  way,  5  differently 

C — 12  words  three  times,  5  in  the  same  way,  7  differently 

C —  1  word  four  times,  none  in  the  same  way,  1  differently 
D — 17  words  twice,  5  in  the  same  way,         12  differently 

D —  9  words  three  times,  4  in  the  same  way,  5  differently 

D —  9  words  four  times,    5  in  the  same  way,  4  differently 

Again,  we  may  take  only  those  words  which  were 
missed  on  the  first  test,  spelled  correctly  on  a  sub- 


64    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

sequent  test,  and  then  lost  again  before  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  experiment.  We  may  classify  them  ac- 
cording as  the  later  misspelling  was  or  was  not  a 
repetition  of  the  first  error.  A's  list  of  errors  shows 
five  such  words,  in  only  one  of  which  the  original 
error  recurred;  C's  list  shows  five  such  words,  in 
four  of  which  the  original  error  recurs;  D's  list 
shows  a  recurrence  in  one  of  three  possible  cases. 
This  evidence  seems  to  leave  no  doubt  respecting 
the  persistence  of  errors  in  spite  of  focalization  up- 
on them,  and  reaction  by  the  pupil  in  various  ways 
calculated  to  eliminate  them.  A  misspelling  shows 
a  tendency  to  recur  even  when  the  correct  spelling 
has  been  gained,  and  it  is  usually  the  initial  error 
in  spelling  a  word  that  persists. 

The  reader  has  probably  noted  that  A's  records 
do  not  agree  in  any  large  degree  with  those  of  the 

An  apparent  ex-      °^^^^  ^^^^      ^^^  °"g^"^^  ^^^°" 
ception  to  the  rule   were  not  reproduced  by  A  as  f  re- 
persis  ence  quently  as  were  certain  subsequent 

ones.  The  reason  for  this  is  interesting.  The  ex- 
perimenter's diary  shows  that  A  was  often  unable 
to  pronounce  on  one  day  what  he  had  tried  to  spell 
the  day  before,  that  he  gave  very  curious  and  erro- 
neous pronunciations  of  the  real  word,  showing  that 
he  was  guided  very  largely  by  the  phonetic  elements 
of  what  he  had  written,  from  which  it  is  to  be 
inferred  that  he  spelled  pretty  accurately  what  he 
heard,  but  that  he  did  not  hear  correctly.  When 
one  repeats  an  error,  one  does  so  because  of  one's 


THE   LIFE    HISTORY  65 

habit  of  response  to  a  stimulus  already  experienced. 
But  when  a  pupil  has  very  little  idea  of  the  sound 
of  a  word  the  first  time  he  meets  it,  but  keeps 
on  gradually  working  out  the  phonic  elements  of 
it  until  he  gets  the  true  pronunciation  of  it  in  mind, 
he  is  not  subjected,  as  his  learning  proceeds,  to 
the  same  stimulus  when  the  word  is  pronounced  for 
spelling.  And  so,  if  the  stimulus  has  been  changed, 
the  response  naturally  is  different.  Now,  a  detailed 
study  of  A's  lists  shows  just  this  general  character- 
istic— a  gradual  growth  toward  the  correct  spelling. 
Some  of  the  words  which  he  never  did  get  right 
were  worked  out  of  an  unintelligible  form  into  one 
where  it  is  plain  to  see  what  he  was  driving  at. 
Several  words,  such  as  sacrificial,  influential  and 
susceptible,  were  missed  four  successive  times,  but 
never  in  the  same  way.  Rarely  was  there  a  word 
missed  four  times  that  was  not  nearer  right  at  the 
finish  than  at  the  start. 

In  the  face  of  these  facts  it  seems  reasonable  to 
conclude  that  if  the  original  error  in  spelling  can 
Why  errors  be  avoided,  much  of  the  problem 

P*"^^^^*  of  acquiring  correct  spelling  will 

be  solved.  But  how  may  this  be  accomplished? 
Manifestly  its  accomplishment  depends  on  an  ap- 
preciation of  the  reasons  for  original  errors,  and 
for  the  persistence  of  errors.  Obviously  two  fac- 
tors are  of  chief  importance.  First,  there  is  the 
actual  source  of  error,  as  discussed  in  the  preceding 
chapter.     Second,  there  is  the  "set"  given  by  the 


66    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

graphic  execution  of  an  incorrect  form.  Teachers 
of  drawing,  instrumental  music  and  penmanship 
attach  importance  to  the  persistence  of  motor  habits ; 
instructors  in  physical  training  and  successful 
coaches  of  athletics  give  much  preliminary  attention 
to  "form."  In  the  demand  that  pupils  rewrite  a 
specified  number  of  times  each  word  missed  in  spell- 
ing, some  teachers  have  shown  their  belief  in  the 
permanence  of  impressions  of  hand-motor  responses. 
But  at  best  this  latter  type  of  work  is  a  sort  of 
locking  the  door  after  the  theft  has  been  committed. 
A  few  graphic  or  oral  repetitions  of  the  lesson  in 
preparation  are  worth  many  repetitions  after  the 
harm  is  done. 

It  is  undoubtedly  a  mistake  to  permit  a  child  to 
write  a  spelling  lesson  he  has  not  prepared.  In 
schools  where  there  is  no  special  time  given  for  the 
preparation  of  the  spelling  lesson,  or  where  in  high 
schools  the  attainment  of  a  certain  grade  in  spell- 
ing for  a  term  excuses  a  pupil  from  further  pursuil 
of  the  branch,  or  in  cases  where  the  pupil  is  care: 
less  and  receives  no  penalty  for  missing,  except  the. 
trifling  one  of  writing  the  wrong  words  correctly 
below  the  lesson — under  all  such  conditions  there 
are  many  who  write  without  studying.  Thus  mis- 
takes are  made  which  a  very  little  study  would  have 
prevented;  and  if  they  are  not  corrected  until  the 
next  day,  as  often  happens,  there  is  incorporated 
in  the  nervous  system  a  response  it  will  take  many 
times  the  energy  to  uproot  that  it  would  have  taken 


THE   LIFE   HISTORY  67 

to  get  the  thing  right  in  the  first  place.  No  matter 
how  long  we  may  work  on  words  once  misspelled, 
we  can  hardly  ever  be  sure  that  the  fault  will  not 
return.  So  instead  of  refusing  to  let  children  write 
their  spelling  lessons  because  they  have  not  the 
regulation  blank  or  have  forgotten  pen  or  ink,  we 
ought  to  apply  a  really  fundamental  test — "Have 
you  faithfully  studied  this  lesson?" — keeping  in 
mind  that  while  an  unprepared  pupil  may  possibly 
attend  other  recitations  to  his  profit,  he  may  par- 
ticipate in  the  written  spelling  class  only  to  his  own 
harm. 

The  life  history  of  a  few  individual  words  stud- 
ied throughout  these  tests  may  be  indicative  of  the 
The  life  history  factors  entering  into  the  spelling 
of  certain  words  process.  Two  words,  machinist 
and  malignity,  were  never  spelled  correctly  by  any 
one  on  any  test,  though  perhaps  few  adults  would 
have  designated  them  as  the  hardest  of  the  list. 
Machinist  showed  persistence  of  errors  with  B  and 
D,  and  identity  of  error  twice  between  A  and  C. 
The  skeleton  m-ch-n-st  was  always  retained  except 
for  A's  peculiar  mechanious,  which  appeared  once. 
Though  A  and  D  made  some  progress,  B  and  C 
did  not.  The  three  vowels,  a,  e  and  i,  filled  in  the 
spaces  in  all  sorts  of  ways.  The  obscurity  of  the 
vowels  in  the  word  prevented  the  proper  arrange- 
ment of  a  and  i.  Doubtless  e  crept  in  because  the 
word  was  taught  as  a  member  of  the  "family"  of 
words  starting  with  mech-;  and  as  might  have  been 


68    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

expected,  it  appeared  more  frequently  in  the  first 
syllable  than  elsewhere. 

The  efforts  to  spell  malignity  showed  but  little  more 
success  than  in  the  case  of  ntachinist.  Great  con- 
fusion arose  because  of  malignancy,  leading  to  the 
impression  that  the  desired  word  was  malignanty. 
There  was  a  strong  persistence  of  the  original  error 
with  C  and  D;  but  A  worked  out  everything  cor- 
rectly except  the  first  vowel,  ending  finally  with 
melignity.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  he  had  to 
pass  through  the  -nanty  stage  on  the  way.  Here 
again  it  seems  that  the  "family"  grouping  in  the 
presentation  of  the  words  was  more  of  a  hindrance 
than  a  help.  It  is  a  well  established  principle  in 
psychology  that  two  associations  interfere  less  with 
each  other  and  are  less  likely  to  become  confused, 
if  one  is  thoroughly  mastered  first  than  if  both  are 
in  the  formative  stage  at  the  same  time.  If  the 
acquisition  of  a  word  is  accelerated  by  associating 
it  with  other  members  of  its  "family"  when  all 
are  new,  why  should  it  not  be  after  certain  mem- 
bers of  that  "family"  have  become  familiar? 

A  few  other  illustrations  will  show  more  plainly 
the  nature  of  the  struggle  which  we  are  here  con- 
sidering. Take  the  work  of  A  on  intelligible.  His 
first  rendering — intellegable — might  have  been  ex- 
pected, considering  the  obscured  vowels ;  and  it  was 
so  written  a  second  time.  Under  instruction  di- 
rected upon  the  points  of  difficulty,  one  of  the 
vowels  was  fixed  correctly,  and^A  wrote  on  the 


•     THE   LIFE    HISTORY  69 

third  trial  intelligeable.  The  troublesome  e  had 
been  displaced,  but  not  eliminated.  The  stress  was 
now  all  shifted  to  the  one  point  still  needing  change, 
and  the  boy  next  wrote  intelligiable.  The  i  had 
been  forced  in,  the  e  forced  out.  Further  instruc- 
tion would  probably  have  eliminated  the  superfluous 
a.  A  greatly  improved  accessory  on  his  second 
writing,  and  would  have  had  it  correct  on  his  third 
trial,  but  one  of  his  former  difficulties  returned, 
viz.,  the  substitution  of  an  s  for  a  c.  The  last  time 
he  got  rid  of  it  again  and  held  the  rest  securely. 
While  C  was  casting  out  one  error  in  ostensible  a 
former  one  (substitution  of  c  for  s)  returned. 

Such  are  the  vicissitudes  in  the  conquest  of  a 
hard  word.  The  opposing  forces  sway  back  and 
forth  much  as  two  battle  lines  fighting  for  a  stra- 
tegic point.  Even  if  the  teacher  places  equal  stress 
on  all  parts  of  the  word,  the  pupil  will  feel  a  par- 
ticular stress  at  the  point  of  error.  Adults  feel 
some  such  stress  for  years  after  being  checked  up 
on  a  pronunciation,  spelling,  or  date  in  history. 
This  stress  may  be  just  sufficient  to  break  the  old 
association,  or  to  establish  the  new  one*  In  the 
first  case,  the  incorrect  letter  goes  out,  and  its  place 
is  left  vacant,  or  more  likely  it  is  taken  by  some- 
thing that  to  the  pupil  seems  probable,  as  in  several 
of  the  spellings  of  machinist.  This  was  C's  state 
of  mind  when,  in  answer  to  a  question  regarding 
his  mistake,  he  said,  *T  know  zvhere  it  is,  but  I 
don't  know  what  it  ought  to  be."     In  the  second 


70    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

case,  the  proper  letters  are  brought  in,  but  the 
erroneous  ones  may  not  be  eliminated,  hence  the 
former  may  be  displaced  considerably,  and  float 
around  as  it  were,  like  p  in  A's  spelling  of  suscepti- 
bility. His  first  three  spellings  of  the  second  sylla- 
ble were  -pect-,  -cept-  and  -pet-,  but  on  the  last 
trial  he  had  it  correctly,  -cept-,  with  all  other  mis- 
takes corrected  at  the  same  time. 

Two  or  three  errors  in  a  word  are  not  likely  to 
be  worked  out  at  one  and  the  same  time,  for  the 
Errors  eliminated  P"pil  probably  does  not  feel  suf- 
one  at  a  time  ficient  stress   in  two  parts  of  a 

word  of  ordinary  length.  If  a  public  speaker  should 
emphasize  every  second  or  third  word,  proper  em- 
phasis would  be  destroyed  for  his  hearers.  After 
a  period  of  practise,  the  word  may  be  written  with 
improvement  in  some  respect,  and  when  the  attack 
begins  again  the  stress  is  no  longer  experienced  at 
the  old  point.  Yet  when  the  word  is  written  again 
and  another  error  corrected,  the  former  error  may 
recur.  It  is  always  situated  at  the  youngest  and 
least  stable  part  of  the  word-association,  and  may 
be  expected  to  assert  itself  now  and  then.  Such 
a  recurrence  should  not  be  regarded  as  occasion 
for  discouragement  and  censure;  the  error  will  be 
dispelled  more  easily  this  time  than  before,  and  it 
will  be  less  likely  to  return. 

There  may  be  designated  then  four  principal 
stages  in  the  mastery  of  a  word,  instead  of  the  two 


THE   LIFE   HISTORY  71 

Four  stages  in         usually  distinguished,— right  and 
word  mastery  wrong.     First,  there  is  the  stage 

in  which  a  word  may  be  classed  as  well  estab- 
lished incorrectly.  This  is  by  far  the  most  serious 
stage.  The  pupil  invariably  uses  the  same  misspell' 
ing;  and  the  first  sign  of  improvement  dates  from, 
the  moment  when  the  misspellings  begin  to  vary. ' 
The  word  is  now  in  the  second  stage,  and  may  be 
said  to  be  partially  established  incorrectly.  In 
the  face  of  further  treatment  a  casual  right  spelling 
may  appear,  but  it  may  quickly  disappear.  The 
third  stage  has  now  been  reached,  and  the  word  is 
imperfectly  mastered  correctly.  Additional  practise 
will  lead  to  the  fourth  stage — well  mastered  cor- 
rectly. Lapses  then  rarely  occur.  All  children  do 
not  pass  through  all  these  stages  with  reference  to 
every  word  they  can  spell.  Most  people  never  ex- 
hibit the  worst  stage  (well  established  incorrectly) 
except  with  reference  to  a  few  words.  Prolonged 
practise  between  tests  may  even  cause  a  certain 
stage  to  be  skipped  as  far  as  can  be  seen.  The  ad- 
vantage of  such  an  analysis  is  that  it  indicates  what 
teachers  may  expect  from  exceptionally  poor  spel- 
lers, or  from  any  who  have  made  a  bad  start  with 
certain  words.  This  sort  of  clinical  practise  can 
be  greatly  diminished  through  improved  technique 
of  presentation,  and  more  accurate  grading  of 
words.  Then  the  weeds  of  original  error  will  not 
be  permitted  to  grow  so  rank. 


72    THE   CHILD   AND   HIS    SPELLING 

There  is  need  before  this  subject  is  left  to  take 
some  account  of  a  phrase  which  teachers  use  very 
When  is  a  freely,   viz.,   the   "mastery   of   a 

word  mastered?  word"  (in  the  sense  of  spelling, 
of  course).  It  would  be  better  if  we  interpreted 
this  expression  in  a  relative  rather  than  in  an  ab- 
solute sense.  Most  adults  have  had  the  experience 
of  forgetting  or  becoming  uncertain  of  the  spelling 
of  a  word,  which  for  years  has  been  perfectly  under 
command.  This  happens  with  simple  and  common, 
as  well  as  with  complex  and  uncommon  words. 
Such  evidence,  together  with  the  tests  described  in 
this  chapter  and  in  the  next,  and  the  experience  of 
every  teacher,  indicates  that  we  do  not  know  just 
when  a  child  has  fully  mastered  a  difficult  word, 
so  that  it  will  always  abide  with  him.  But  happily 
we  can  generally  tell  when  he  is  making  progress 
in  its  mastery. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  noted  that  mastery 
of  a  word  may  be  more  complete  and  lasting  in  one 
"modality"  than  in  another.  To  illustrate:  one  of 
the  writers  has  the  experience  that  under  condi- 
tions of  fatigue  he  sometimes  loses  confidence  in  the 
writing  of  certain  words;  but  if  he  spells  them 
aloud,  so  that  vocal  and  auditory  familiarity  are 
brought  in,  he  never  fails  to  recall  immediately  the 
correct  spelling.  Ordinarily  there  is  no  hesitation 
in  deciding  whether  or  not  words  are  spelled  cor- 
rectly by  the  way  they  look,  or  feel  in  writing ;  but 
mastery  in  these  modes  is  less  permanent  than  in 


THE  LIFE   HISTORY  73 

the  vocal  and  auditory  modes.  But  with  some  per- 
sons it  appears  to  be  just  the  other  way;  they  rely 
in  times  of  doubt  or  stress  upon  visual  or  graphic 
rather  than  upon  auditory  or  vocal  familiarity. 
Still  other  persons  who  have  been  questioned  in  re- 
gard to  the  matter  by  one  of  the  writers  declare  that 
one  mode  is  not  more  secure  or  reliable  than  an- 
other; uncertainty  as  to  the  writing  of  a  word  is 
not  relieved  by  spelling  it  vocally,  or  vice  versa. 
Probably  people  differ  in  this  respect  according  as 
they  are  predominantly  of  the  visual  or  auditory  or 
motor-graphic  or  motor-vocal  type,  or  as  they  have 
through  early  training  and  use  come  to  rely  mainly 
upon  one  mode  or  another  in  spelling. 


CHAPTER  V 

COLUMN  VERSUS  CONTEXTUAL  SPELLING 

THE  second  experiment  carried  on  with  the 
four  boys  already  mentioned  was  undertaken 
in  the  hope  of  gaining  some  data  bearing  on  the 
Material  and  problem  of  the  outcome  of  spell- 

subjects  ing  in  sentences  as  compared  with 

spelling  isolated  words.  Some  easy  portions  of 
Robinson  Crusoe  were  dictated,  and  the  boys  were 
asked  to  copy  them.  Two  days  after  this  dictation 
work,  the  group  was  given  a  column  test  based  on 
the  dictated  material.  Reversing  the  process,  a  test 
was  given  on  isolated  words  selected  from  an  ac- 
count of  the  Chicago  fire.  This  was  followed  a 
couple  of  days  afterward  by  the  dictation  of  an 
account  of  the  fire. 

The  words  seemed  simple  enough,  so  that  pupils 
of  grammar-school  grade  should  be  familiar  with 
Difficulties  of  them,  yet  there  were  a  number  in 

the  plan  both    selections    that    appeared 

strange  to  all  members  of  the  class.  They  indicated 
this  by  asking,  for  instance — "Is  the  word  *desper- 

74 


COLUMN  VERSUS  CONTEXT    75 

ate'?" — or  by  requesting  the  experimenter  to  "say 
it  slow."  The  latter  tried  his  best  to  give  the  con- 
ventional pronunciation,  speaking  all  words  plainly 
and  with  moderate  speed.  In  the  column  tests,  it 
was  necessary  to  insure  that  the  pupils  understood 
the  words  by  having  them  defined,  giving  their 
opposites,  or  illustrating  their  use  with  a  brief  sen- 
tence. The  purpose  kept  in  mind  in  this  work  was 
to  determine  ( i )  whether  words  might  be  spelled 
correctly  in  column  and  missed  when  used  in  sen- 
tences, or  vice  versa;  and  (2)  whether  the  boys  ex- 
perienced greater  difficulty  with  one  kind  of  spell- 
ing than  with  another.  Much  interest  has  been 
taken  in  these  problems  during  the  last  few  years, 
and  many  persons  have  freely  expressed  their  opin- 
ions regarding  them ;  but  so  far  as  the  writers  are 
aware,  no  tests  have  heretofore  been  made  to  get 
precise  data  bearing  upon  the  problems. 

About  sixty  words  were  taken  for  the  column 
test  each  time,  while  the  dictated  selections  included 
about  three  hundred  twenty-five  words  each.  The 
spellings  given  in  Table  VIII  include  only  those 
words  of  the  column  test  which  were  missed  by 
some  one  either  in  column  or  dictation.  All  other 
words  are  omitted  to  save  space.  Blanks  denote 
correct  spellings.  For  the  guidance  of  the  reader, 
the  true  word  is  sometimes  inserted  in  parentheses 
to  aid  in  identifying  the  misspelling. 


76    THE   CHILD   AND   HIS    SPELLING 


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73 
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COLUMN   VERSUS    CONTEXT        ^^ 


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78    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


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COLUMN   VERSUS   CONTEXT        79 

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SI    §     i.fi  .1  Jg  i 


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8o    THE   CHILD   AND   HIS   SPELLING 

The  errors  given  above  have  been  tabulated  in 
Table  IX.  The  columns  are  headed  in  Roman  nu- 
merals, Column  I  including  those  words  which  a  sub- 
ject misspelled  in  the  same  manner  on  both  column 
and  dictation  tests.  Column  II  includes  words 
spelled  differently  in  the  two  tests,  but  missed  in 
both.  Column  III  shows  words  spelled  rightly  in 
the  dictation  test,  but  wrongly  in  the  column  test, 
while  Column  IV  presents  just  the  opposite  record, 
i.  e.,  the  number  wrong  in  dictation  but  right  in 
column.  So  Column  III  shows  cases  of  apparent 
superiority  of  the  dictation  method,  while  Column 
IV  shows  cases  of  apparent  superiority  of  the  col- 
umn method.  In  the  last  two  columns  have  been 
noted  the  number  of  words  which,  right  in  one 
test,  were  wrong  in  the  other,  the  mistake  consisting 
of  the  omission  of  a  single  letter.  The  presumption 
is  that  nearly  all  of  those  in  Columns  V  and  VI 
show  a  mere  lapse,  not  genuine  misspelling.  Col- 
umn V  gives  those  right  in  dictation  but  wrong  in 
column.  Column  VI  gives  those  wrong  in  dictation 
but  right  in  column. 

Each  figure  in  the  first  column  exceeds  the  corre- 
sponding one  in  the  second,  except  for  pupil  A, 
who  reverses  this  order  for  both  selections.  Slightly 
more  than  half  of  the  one  hundred  three  words 
missed  in  both  column  and  dictation  were  repeated 
errors ;  and  if  A's  record  be  ignored,  over  two-thirds 
were  repetitions. 

In  only  one  case  is  a  figure  in  Column  III  larger 


COLUMN  VERSUS  CONTEXT 
TABLE  IX 


8i 


Pupil  and  Selection 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

\^ 

VI 

A.— Robinson  Crusoe 

Chicago  Fire 

4 
11 

5 
10 

4 
5 

5 
9 

17 
16 

4 
2 

2 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

3 
3 

1 
3 

7 
8 

9 
10 

8 
3 

5 
11 

11 
5 

"i' 

1 

'"2 

2 
4 

3 
1 

B. — Robinson  Crusoe 

Chicago  Fire 

4 

2 

C. — Robinson  Crusoe 

Chicago  Fire 

3 
3 

D.— Robinson  Crusoe 

Chicago  Fire 

2 
1 

Totals 53 

Subtracting  Columns  V  and  VI  fr 
III  and  IV  respectively 

50 

om 

36 
10 

62 
19 

10 

19 

26 

43 

than  the  corresponding  figure  in  Column  IV.    The 
T  th  d     f      ^^^*  impression  made  in  reviewing 


measuring  loss 
by  transfer 


these  results  is  that  the  tendency 
to  miss  words  in  column  which 
were  right  in  dictation  is  to  the  tendency  to  do  the 
reverse  as  36  to  62.  Thus  column  spelling  appears 
to  have  an  advantage  as  to  accuracy.  But  the  words 
in  Columns  V  and  VI  should  first  be  subtracted  from 
the  totals  of  Columns  III  and  IV  respectively  be- 
fore we  may  say  that  we  have  any  real  measure  of 
the  tendency  of  actual  errors  to  be  committed. 
The  standard  of  spelling  on  the  whole  seems  to 
have  been  influenced  somewhat  by  the  change  from 


82    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

contextual  to  isolated  spelling.  This  is  most  truly 
represented  by  the  difference  between  twenty-six 
and  forty-three,  or  seventeen  words.  This  difference 
of  seventeen  words  is  what  we  may  call  the  actual 
loss  in  efficiency,  which,  when  compared  with  the 
total  number  of  test  words,  sixty  for  each  selection, 
or  four  hundred  eighty  for  all  the  group,  is  three 
and  fifty- four  hundredths  per  cent.  Or  we  may 
measure  the  same  thing  by  another  criterion.  If  the 
loss  is  seventeen  words,  there  has  been  an  increase 
of  about  ten  per  cent,  in  the  frequency  of  errors, 
since  the  total  number  of  words  missed  by  all  the 
class  was  one  hundred  seventy-two. 

The  data  presented  thus  far  would  be  held  by 
many  as  illustrative  of  the  principle  that  a  word 
The  conventional  Spelled  in  column  may  be  more  or 
conclusion  jgss  useless  in  actual  writing,  and 

that  therefore  the  formal  spelling  of  isolated  words 
does  not  insure  their  correct  spelling  when  the  child 
tries  to  use  them  in  expressing  his  thoughts.  Those 
taking  this  view  would  insist  that  the  difference 
in  the  two  situations,  one  of  them  formal,  the  other 
dynamic,  is  so  wide  that  transfer  can  not  take  place. 

It  may  with  equal  validity  be  urged  that  the  con- 
text dictated  to  a  child  may  be  just  as  formal  as 
Genuine  dynamic  the  words  taken  from  it  and 
spelling  spelled  in  column,  and  that  the 

situation  becomes  dynamic  only  when  he  writes  to 
express  himself.  Special  effort  was  made  in  the  ex- 
periment just  described  to  choose  material  that 


COLUMN  VERSUS  CONTEXT    83 

would  be  appreciated  by  the  group,  but  A  showed 
by  what  he  said  that  the  writing  of  the  dictation 
was  for  him  a  "grind,"  and  the  reactions  of  the 
others  indicated  that  they  regarded  it  in  the  same 
hght.    For  this  reason  another  test  was  planned. 

After  a  period  of  seven  weeks  during  which  the 
group  had  not  met  with  the  experimenter,  two  of 
them,  C  and  D,  were  secured  for  a  series  of  exer- 
cises. To  throw  them  off  their  guard,  it  was  ex- 
plained that  the  old  matter  of  spelling  would  be 
laid  aside,  and  attention  would  be  given  to  facility 
of  expression.  Subjects  for  composition  were  as- 
signed and  outlined  somewhat  in  detail.  Both  boys 
expressed  themselves  as  better  able  to  write  on  the 
topics  presented  than  on  anything  they  could  sug- 
gest. Then  they  were  allowed  a  certain  amount 
of  time,  and  told  to  write  as  easily  and  rapidly  as 
possible.  When  the  papers  were  received,  lists  of 
words  misspelled  were  selected  from  them,  and 
others  correctly  spelled  were  added  to  such  lists. 
These  were  spelled  in  column,  with  the  explicit 
statement  that  while  some  of  them  had  been  missed 
in  the  compositions,  others  had  not.  Table  X  shows 
misspellings  taken  from  the  themes  of  C  and  D 
on  six  different  subjects  (totaling  nine  hundred 
one  and  fifteen  hundred  ninety-two  running  words 
respectively),  and  the  subsequent  column  tests  based 
on  the  themes.  All  words  passing  from  right  on 
one  test  to  wrong  on  the  other  by  the  omission 
of  a  single  letter  or  the  substitution  of  n  for  m,  are 


84     THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

italicized,  to  indicate  mere  lapse  father  than  genuine 
error  as  the  probable  cause  of  the  trouble. 


TABLE  X 

PUPIL  C 

Composition. 

Column. 

latmchs 

'(launches)^ 

fishs 

(fishes) 

minows 

(minnows)' 

inchs 

(inches) 

pricaple 

(principle) 

companyS 

(companies) 

sledes 

(sleds) 

bublcs 

(bubbles) 

twdrds 

(towards) 

succesful 

(successful) 

succesful 

hocky 

(hockey) 

hocky 

frezes 

(freezes) 

frezes 

thich 

•(thick) 

thich 

allready 

(already) 

birth 

(berth) 

bigest 

(biggest)' 

bigest 

1(  steamers)' 

steammers 

(pickerel) 

pickeral 

,'(  minutes) 

ininites 

tUPiL  D 

Composition. 

Column. 

tipy 

:(tiK>yy 

peir 

(pier) 

minnoe 

(minnow) 

minoe 

too 

;(to) 

COLUMN    VERSUS    CONTEXT 


85 


Composition. 

Column. 

tobogan 

(toboggan) 

tobogan 

bottum 

(bottom) 

freazes 

(freezes) 

fruquently 

i(  frequently) 

amunition 

(ammunition) 

amunition 

t  ruble 

(trouble) 

throwen 

(thrown) 

squarly 

(squarely) 

squarly 

deceve 

(deceive) 

a f read 

(afraid) 

a f read 

excitting 

(exciting) 

excitting 

stopcd 

(stopped) 

veiw 

(view) 

pickeral 

(pickerel) 

acrouse 

(across) 

acrouse 

swiming 

i(  swimming) 

universitty 

(university) 

slott 

(slot) 

minuetes 

(minutes) 

interurbeen 

((interurban) 

intererban 

tellephoned 

(telephoned) 

telaphoned 

domb 

(dome) 

(smooth) 

smoth 

(courses) 

coarces 

.(commonly) 

connonly 

(steered) 

steared 

(angleworm) 

anglezvorn 

(either) 

earther 

(railing) 

railling 

(squirt) 

squrt 

(firecrackers) 

firecrakers 

{following) 

fowlling 

Summarizing  the  data  of  Table  X  we  have  Table 


86    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

XI.  The  Roman  numerals  at  the  heads  of  the  col- 
umns have  the  same  significance  as  they  did  in 
Table  IX. 

TABLE  XI 


Pupil 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

C 

5 
6 

"a" 

3 

10 

11 
17 

■■■5" 

6 

D 

5 

Totals 

11 

3 

13 
5 

28 
11 

5 

11 

Subtracting  Column 
from  III  and  IV  r 

3  V  ar 
espect 

d  VI 
ively 

8 

17 

C  shows  a  difference  of  two  words  against  the 
transfer  of  column  to  contextual  spelling  in  a  vo- 
cabulary of  two  hundred  sixty-three  words  and  a 
total  of  nine  hundred  one  running  words  of  com- 
position; D  shows  a  similar  difference  of  seven 
words  in  a  vocabulary  of  three  hundred  ninety- 
three  occurring  in  a  total  of  fifteen  hundred  ninety- 
two  running  words  of  composition.  The  very  small 
loss  in  transfer  by  C  on  this  test  is  due  to  his 
great  care  in  composition,  and  the  fact  that  he  is 
always  much  more  careful  than  D  in  his  spelling. 
The  decrease  in  frequency  of  errors  in  column  over 
contextual  writing,  as  derived  from  Table  XI,  is 
twenty-four  per  cent.,  counting  no  word  twice  for 
the  same  individual,  a  method  of  figuring  which 
gave  slightly  under  ten  per  cent,  in  the  earlier  ex- 


COLUMN  VERSUS  CONTEXT    87 

periment  with  the  four  subjects  (see  Table  IX). 
The  loss  in  efficiency,  nine  words,  as  compared  with 
the  total  number  of  test  words — fifty-five — is  six- 
teen per  cent,  as  against  three  and  fifty-four  hun- 
dredths per  cent,  in  the  former  experiment.  The 
smaller  figures  for  the  first  experiment  are  doubt- 
less the  result  of  the  formal  character  of  material 
dictated  by  the  teacher.  The  writers  would  insist 
that  the  figures  for  the  later  experiment  reflect  more 
nearly  the  actual  difference  between  the  formal  sit- 
uation in  column  spelling  and  the  dynamic  situation 
in  ordinary  written  expression. 

The  cause  of  this  loss  in  transfer  is  the  next 
thing  that  must  engage  our  attention.  If  the  two 
Dispersion  of  activities — isolated   as  contrasted 

attention  -^ith  contextual  spelling — ^be  ana- 

lyzed, certain  differences  appear.  In  the  case  of 
the  former,  the  attention  is  concentrated  on  a  few 
words,  while  in  the  latter  it  is  distributed  over  a 
much  larger  number.  Hence  we  should  expect  the 
mistakes  to  be  increased  in  contextual  writing. 
Suppose  a  boy  can  repeat  perfectly  the  addition 
and  multiplication  tables.  No  one  doubts  that  if 
he  is  required  to  multiply,  for  example,  thirteen 
by  twenty- four  he  will  be  more  likely  to  give  a 
correct  answer  than  if  he  tries  to  add  thirteen  twen- 
ty-fours together.  The  processes  in  the  last  prob- 
lem may  not  from  one  point  of  view  be  more  diffi- 
cult than  those  of  the  first,  but  the  attention  is 
distributed  over  a  larger  area,  or  rather  is  acting 


88    THE   CHILD   AND   HIS   SPELLING 

for  a  longer  time;  hence  the  possibilities  of  its 
wandering  are  increased.  So  in  the  problem  of 
spelling  before  us — the  attention  is  not  only  called 
to  a  larger  number  of  words;  it  is  directed  to  the 
maintenance  of  a  proper  order  of  the  words.  They 
are  dictated,  by  another  or  mentally  by  the  subject, 
in  groups,  and  the  entire  remainder  of  each  group 
must  be  carried  in  consciousness  while  any  word 
of  such  group  is  being  written.  Then  there  is  the 
matter  of  punctuation  and  capitalization  to  be  cared 
for.  Further,  the  context  is  likely  to  present  a 
line  of  thought  to  the  pupil,  and  this  may  distract 
his  attention.  The  greater  rapidity  of  writing  in 
ordinary  dictated  exercises  also  prevents  the  review 
of  each  word  immediately  after  it  is  written,  though 
such  a  practise  is  possible  and  customary  in  column 
writing. 

But  if  a  child  is  to  spell  correctly  in  his  con- 
textual writing,  and  at  the  same  time  execute  suc- 
Relative  automa-  cess  fully  all  these  other  matters, 
tism  in  spelling  {^  jg  necessary  that  many  of  the 
processes  should  become  relatively  automatic. 
Otherwise  he  will  never  acquire  sufficient  facility 
in  these  operations  to  meet  properly  the  demands 
of  later  life.  Let  us  waive  all  academic  discussion 
of  the  question  of  complete  automatism  in  spelling, 
for  its  existence  is  disproved  by  the  constant  oc- 
currence of  lapses  in  the  writing  of  all  sorts  of 
people.  The  matter  of  prime  concern  to  teachers 
is  the  method  by  which  the  novice  may  be  made 


COLUMN  VERSUS  CONTEXT    89 

to  pass  from  his  habit  of  giving  attention  to  the 
elements  of  words  to  the  point  where  the  formal 
processes  in  writing  no  longer  occupy  a  focal  posi- 
tion in  consciousness. 

Since  the  learner  can  apprehend  visually  a  larger 
unit  than  he  can  execute  mechanically,  the  sentence 

,  ^       ,.  method,     though     applicable    i  n 

Automatic  execu-  '  °  ^'^ 

tion  of  the  literal  teaching  reading,  would  be  ut- 
clements  ^^^j^  ^nsuited  to  a  child  in  his 

writing.  He  begins  by  executing  only  the  very 
shortest  and  simplest  words,  or  even  more  fre- 
quently the  Isolated  letters.  But  modern  educa- 
tional theory  maintains  that  in  teaching  writing  we 
should  begin  with  the  largest  unit  that  can  be  ex- 
ecuted efTectively,  so  that  an  analysis  of  letters  into 
their  component  parts  should  follow  rather  than 
precede  the  writing  of  the  letter  as  a  whole.  Thus 
it  comes  about  that  the  mere  thought  of  a  letter 
will  call  forth  its  complete  execution  much  sooner 
than  could  possibly  be  the  case  if  the  elements  of 
the  letter  were  first  mastered  in  isolation  and  then 
combined. 

While  the  pupil  is  gaining  this  facility  prerequi- 
site to  written  spelling,  he  has  supposedly  been  ac- 
Oral  spell-  quiring  a  fairly  ready  command 

"^6^"^^'  of  the  literal  elements  of  many 

short  words  by  means  of  oral  spelling.  This 
knowledge  should  come  through  practise  on  the 
words  as  wholes,  with  only  minor  emphasis  on  syl- 
labic elements  of  words  of  more  than  one  syllable. 


90    THE   CHILD   AND   HIS    SPELLING 

Some  teachers  insist  on  keeping  the  written  spelling 
up  with  the  oral  spelling  from  the  start,  but  the 
possibility  of  such  procedure  is  somewhat  doubtful, 
and  its  economy  is  still  more  so. 

When  the  new  problem  arises  of  combining  oral 
knowledge  and  graphic  knowledge  into  successful 
Automatic  control  written  spelling,  there  will  be  for 
of  larger  units  g.  time  considerable  hesitation 
and  a  profusion  of  errors.  Teachers  now  need 
to  be  both  painstaking  and  patient.  Work  of 
a  contextual  character,  however,  must  soon  be- 
gin, or  the  child  will  not  come  upon  the  neces- 
sity of  thinking  in  larger  units  than  single 
words.  In  fact,  some  persons  grow  up  unable 
to  compose  and  write  at  the  same  time  with 
any  degree  of  effectiveness,  and  a  major  reason 
for  such  an  unhappy  condition  is  probably  the 
fact  that  they  were  not  put  to  the  preparation 
of  free  spontaneous  composition  at  a  sufficiently 
early  age.  Nevertheless,  throughout  the  period 
when  the  pupil  spells  mainly  in  written  composition 
new  words  should  first  be  introduced  separately  in 
order  to  secure  some  degree  of  familiarity  with 
them.  Even  adults  who  have  become  highly  profi- 
cient in  written  expression  must  usually  consider  a 
new  word  carefully  before  they  can  run  it  off  easily 
in  their  writing.  The  same  principle  must  be  eco- 
nomical as  well  as  psychological  for  a  child.  At  the 
same  time,  it  should  be  said  that  only  by  building 


COLUMN   VERSUS    CONTEXT        91 

up  in  the  child  practically  automatic  series  of  the 
greatest  possible  length  can  we  release  consciousness 
for  the  performance  of  functions  that  never  can 
become  automatic. 

Before  closing  this  sketch  of  the  development  of 
habit  in  spelling,  we  should  perhaps  observe  that 
Universality  of  the  principles  mentioned  apply  in 
the  principle  many   fields   of   work.      As   the 

eye  of  the  musician  becomes  trained,  it  takes 
in  a  constantly  increasing  number  of  notes  at  a 
single  "pulse"  of  attention.  The  typist  progresses 
from  a  mastery  of  literal,  through  syllabic  and 
verbal,  to  phrase  unities.  But  the  evidence  gained 
from  the  learning  of  telegraphy  is  the  most  con- 
crete and  convincing  of  all.  The  curve  of  improve- 
ment of  students  of  this  art  and  their  personal  tes- 
timony as  regards  both  sending  and  receiving,  show 
that  the  succession  of  clicks  which  indicate  a  letter 
is  at  first  their  problem.  Later,  they  begin  to  think 
of  the  word  transmitted.  Finally  they  send  and 
interpret  in  phrases,  and  cease  to  attend  to  separate 
clicks.  Moreover,  between  each  of  these  stages 
there  is  almost  invariably  a  more  or  less  extended 
period  of  no  apparent  improvement. 

To  resume — in  the  matter  of  the  difference  in 
efficiency  between  contextual  and  isolated  spelling, 
Lack  of  transfer  it  is  apparent  that  a  pupil  will 
unavoidable  generally  spell  more  accurately  in 

column,  even  though  his  entire  training  has  been 


92    THE   CtllLD   AND   HIS    SPELLING 

on  contextual  spelling.  Spelling  of  long  and  diffi- 
cult words  especially  demands  so  much  conscious 
attention  that  in  the  third  stage  of  mastery  they 
will  be  executed  incorrectly  more  often  in  context- 
ual than  in  column  spelling;  while  the  number  of 
lapses  in  words  in  the  fourth  stage  of  mastery  will 
always  be  greater  in  the  former  than  in  the  latter 
mode  of  spelling. 

Since  spelling  is  not  usually  recognized  as  a  stan- 
dard high-school  subject,  and  since  many  defective 

^      ,    .  spellers    are    annually    promoted 

Conclusion 

into  our  high  schools,  it  has  be- 
come customary  to  give  all  freshmen  a  spelling  test 
(in  column,  of  course)  at  the  earliest  practicable 
date.  Those  who  are  not  able  to  make  a  certain 
grade  on  this  test  are  assigned  to  the  "spelling 
hospital,"  as  some  have  termed  it,  where  they  lan- 
guish until  they  prove  able  to  meet  certain  require- 
ments. The  most  common  prerequisite  for  discharge 
from  the  "hospital"  is  the  attainment  of  a  certain 
grade  in  the  spelling  lessons  for  the  term.  Colleges 
and  universities  very  often  honor  similar  customs 
by  observing  them.  Promotions  from  year  to  year 
in  the  elementary  school  depend  on  the  "averages" 
shown  by  the  "spelling  blank"  and  possibly  the  pass- 
ing of  the  "final,"  which  consists  of  fifty  to  a 
hundred  words.  A  better  method  would  be  to  base 
decisions  in  these  matters  on  the  showing  a  student 
makes  in  the  written  papers  he  submits  in  all  his 


COLUMN  VERSUS  CONTEXT    93 

work.  It  will  be  granted  certainly  that  the  proof 
of  spelling  efficiency  is  found  in  correct  writing 
of  words  in  their  usual  contextual  relation.  Words 
should  not  be  left  until  this  can  be  done;  it  is  the 
clenching  of  the  whole  process. 


CHAPTER  VI 

METHODS  OF   PRESENTATION 

VARIOUS  Studies  have  recently  been  made  by 
American,  French  and  German  psychologists 
of  the  relation  between  presentation  and  memoriza- 
Variance  of  tion.*    All  sorts  of  materials  have 

opinions  b^en   used.-    Most   of   the   tests 

have  been  made  on  only  a  few  subjects,  and  the 
conclusions  have  been  conflicting  to  some  extent. 
This  might  have  been  predicted  for  several  reasons. 
Learning  to  spell  involves  association  between 
sounds  and  letters  in  all  the  phonetic  combinations ; 
second,  it  involves  pure  memorizing  in  the  case  of 
non-phonetic  combinations,  such  as  those  containing 
silent  letters  or  elided  vowels;  third,  it  involves 
relatively  permanent  retention,  which  is  a  very  dif- 
ferent thing  from  immediate  recall  in  all  learning 
processes,  as  was  seen  in  a  discussion  of  this  mat- 
ter in  Chapter  IV.  The  different  experimenters 
have  used  materials  which  varied  in  these  respects. 
If  the  foreign  pronunciation  is  used,  learning  to 

*  The  work  in  this  field  has  been  reviewed  by  Henmon,  The 
RelaHon  Between  Mode  of  Presentation  and  Retention,  Psy- 
chological Review,  XIX,  79-96.  See  also  Burnham,  The 
Hygiene  and  Psychology  of  Spelling,  Pedagogical  Seminary, 
XIII,  474. 

94 


METHODS   OF    PRESENTATION       95 

spell  foreign  words  evidently  violates  the  rules  of 
phonics  already  familiar  to  the  pupil;  but  if  he  be 
permitted  to  formulate  his  own  rules  of  phonics 
for  an  exercise,  the  non-phonetic  element  disappears, 
thus  introducing  a  wholly  artificial  situation  as  far 
as  English  spelling  is  concerned.  Nonsense  sylla- 
bles are  all  phonetic,  and  nouns  and  numbers  are 
learned  without  the  operation  of  the  phonic  element, 
the  associations  consisting  of  quite  vivid  imagery 
entirely  aside  from  the  visual  form  or  the  sound 
of  the  words  memorized.  Then,  too,  many  of  the 
experimenters  measured  only  immediate  recall. 
While  all  of  these  activities  are  more  or  less  similar 
to  spelling,  none  of  them,  therefore,  is  spelling. 

The  study  of  this  problem,  as  stated  in  Chapter 
IV,  was  the  first  one  designed  to  be  taken  up  with 

Han  of  Rework      'l'^   g™^  °^    ^°"'  W"!   T' 
tioned  above.    But  smce  the  nrst 

experiment  developed  in  another  direction,  it  now 
became  necessary  to  plan  a  new  start.  The  third 
experiment  with  the  boys  is  representative  of  the 
type  of  work  that  must  be  done  over  and  over 
again  in  order  to  answer  the  question  of  retention 
and  recall  as  related  to  mode  of  presentation  in 
spelling.  A  series  of  sixteen  lessons  was  given  by 
four  different  methods,  each  method  being  employed 
four  times.  The  four  types  of  presentation  oc- 
curred in  an  invariable  order,  so  that  no  particular 
type  came  always  on  the  same  day  of  the  week. 
Absence  of  one  pupil  or  another  resulted  in  ex- 


96    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

tending  the  sixteen  lessons  over  twenty-four  school- 
days. The  lesson  studied  each  day  was  written 
at  the  close  of  that  day's  exercise,  and  mistakes 
were  corrected  before  adjournment.  The  ordinary 
period  for  studying  and  writing  a  lesson  was  be- 
tween twenty-five  and  thirty  minutes.  The  words 
were  selected  just  as  they  came  in  a  certain  mod- 
ern speller.  On  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  days  after 
the  last  lesson  was  presented,  the  whole  list  was 
spelled  in  column. 

The  ten  words  for  each  day  were  always  written 
on  the  board  in  syllables,  and  with  the  accent 
Four  types  of  marked ;   a   brief   definition   was 

presentation  pu^-  after  each;  the  experimenter 

pronounced  the  list,  and  had  each  boy  pronounce 
it  after  him.  So  far  all  lessons  were  uniform  in 
presentation,  but  thereafter  they  began  to  diverge. 
On  one  day  the  boys  wrote  at  the  board,  while  the 
next  day  they  memorized  the  words  at  their  seatst 
This  method  gave  an  opportunity  to  test  graphic 
versus  oral  methods  of  study.  Then  for  half  of 
the  lessons  studied  both  graphically  and  orally,  the 
words  were  written  or  spoken  in  sentences  only, 
and  so  written  on  the  test  at  the  close  of  the  hour. 
During  the  rest  of  the  time  isolated  words  were 
studied,  and  they  were  written  in  column  as  the 
test  for  the  day.  So  the  four  types  of  study  might 
be  termed  graphic-contextual,  graphic-column,  oral- 
contextual  and  oral -column.  The  class  was  not  so 
well  pleased  with  the  contextual  as  with  the  column 


METHODS   OF   PRESENTATION      97 

lessons.  Often  they  would  ask — "We  don't  have 
to  write  them  in  sentences  to-day,  do  we?"  The 
contextual  work  seemed  to  conflict  with  their  idea 
of  studying  spelling,  and  there  is  no  doubt  it  ran 
in  opposition  to  their  school  "spelling  habit."  Con- 
sequently a  boy  would  sometimes  be  observed  prac- 
tising on  the  test  word  contained  in  a  given  sen- 
tence, instead  of  writing  the  sentences  as  given  him. 
The  boys'  dislike  for  this  sort  of  work  made  the 
experimenter  feel  that  the  contextual  method  did 
not  get  a  fair  trial.  This  shows,  for  one  thing, 
how  wide  is  the  gap  in  the  mind  of  the  typical  boy 
between  learning  and  using  spelling. 

In  Table  XII  is  shown  the  number  of  errors  on 
both  the  daily  tests  and  the  final  test. 

TABLE  XII 

DAILY  TESTS 

Lesson  type  Lesson  type 

Graphic  Oral 
Contextual  Column  Contextual  Column  Total 

Pupil  A    3               ..  ..                ..  3 

Pupil  B    6               . .  5                 1  12 

Pupil  C    1               ..  2                2  5 

Pupil  D    4               ..  1               ..  S 

Total    14  0  8  3  25 

FINAL  TEST 

Pupil  A    24  31  25  19  99 

Pupil  B    9  8  12  12  41 

Pupil  C    6  11  6  10  33 

Pupil  D    9  12  11  10  42 

Total    48  62  54       .       51         215 


98    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

The  astonishing  increase  of  errors  on  the  final 
test  may  be  thought  to  demonstrate  that  all  the 
Effectiveness  of  teaching  had  been  ineffective.  It 
the  training  j^^^y   ^g    gaid   that   the   group   if 

given  the  final  test  without  preliminary  training 
would  scarcely  have  missed  a  greater  proportion  of 
the  one  hundred  sixty  words.  But  there  are  at  least 
two  reasons  for  believing  that  the  training  had  a 
beneficial  effect.  In  the  first  place,  a  large  number 
of  words  shown  by  the  experimenter's  diary  to  have 
given  trouble  in  the  daily  study  were  spelled  cor- 
rectly on  the  daily  tests,  and  many  of  them  were  still 
spelled  correctly  on  the  final  test.  The  influence  of 
the  immediate  correction  of  errors  also  was  evident, 
since  of  the  twenty-five  words  missed  on  the  daily 
tests  only  fifteen  were  missed  by  the  same  persons  on 
the  final  test,  and  of  these  fifteen  only  one  was  mis- 
spelled the  same  way  both  times. 

Comparing  now  the  results  of  daily  and  final  tests, 
we  find  that  the  efficiency  of  the  different  types  of 
Comparison  presentation  in  the  daily  tests  is 

of  methods  almost  exactly  the  reverse  of  that 

in  the  final  test.  The  graphic-contextual  type 
changes  from  fourth  to  first  place,  and  the  graphic- 
oral  from  first  to  fourth  place.  In  the  daily  tests 
the  contextual  appears  inferior  to  the  column 
method  in  the  ratio  of  twenty-two  to  three  errors. 
But  this  large  number  of  errors  in  the  graphic- 
contextual  and  oral-contextual  should  hardly  be  re- 
garded as  the  inevitable  accompaniment  of  context- 


METHODS   OF    PRESENTATION       99 

ual  spelling,  because  no  such  striking  relation  was 
shown  in  the  experiments  described  in  the  previous 
chapter,  and  because  the  class  recognized  clearly 
in  the  context  the  words  on  which  they  had  been 
drilled,  and  doubtless  wrote  them  with  all  the  care 
usually  taken  with  words  in  isolation.  Their  care- 
lessness in  the  study  of  the  contextual  lesson  must 
have  been  the  cause  of  the  errors.  However,  on 
the  final  test  the  contextual  presentation  was  slightly 
superior. 

The  reason  for  the  "slump"  on  the  final  test  is 
not  far  to  seek.  It  seems  plain  that  intensive  study 
of  ten  fairly  difficult  words,  terminating  in  prac- 
tically perfect  immediate  recall,  is  no  criterion  of 
real  learning  for  spelling  purposes.  The  pupil  holds 
the  words  for  the  moment  almost  as  in  a  memory 
span,  and  is  tested  on  his  receptivity  rather  than 
his  retentivity.  Yet  a  large  part  of  all  spelling 
work  in  the  schools  is  apparently  of  this  snap-shot 
order.  Thus  the  boy  A  is  an  excellent  speller  in 
the  spelling  class,  but  not  elsewhere.  All  the  ex- 
periments show  it,  and  his  teacher  confirms  it.* 
The  other  boys  show  the  same  tendency,  but  not 
so  markedly.  Two  weeks  seem  a  sufficiently  long 
period  for  pupils  to  lose  a  spelling  lesson  as  fully 


*One  of  the  writers  often  thinks  of  the  German  girl  in  a 
district  school  who  exceeded  him  in  "headmarks"  in  the 
course  of  the  term.  But  on  examination  day  his  turn  came. 
The  artificial  daily  superiority  of  his  competitor  had  vanished, 
and  he  counted  two  or  three  "headmarks"  in  a  single  recita- 
tion while  she  shed  bitter  tears. 


lOO    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 


as  they  are  likely  to  lose  it  in  a  much  longer  time. 
Such  a  view  is  upheld  by  the  division  of  the  lessons 
shown  in  Table  XIII,  in  which  it  is  shown  that 
the  final  test  occurred  from  forty-five  to  forty-nine 
days  after  the  original  presentation  of  lessons  one  to 

forty  words  comprising 

ed  twenty-seven  on  the 

ten,  ct(j\ ;  and  so  on  with  all  the 


Lj|  XIII 


m         m 

Vl;,  ,..,..■ 

E  R 

R  O  R  S 

m         «W 

A 

B 

C 

D 

Tool 

B^ 

27 

10 

7 

6 

50 

poiifiS^u 

31 

13 

7 

14 

65 

»-la  inclusive 

'§1  _  28 

18 

12 

13 

11 

54 

13-16  inclusive 

12-19 

23 

6 

6 

11 

46 

1-  8  inclusive 

28-49 

68 

23 

14 

20 

115 

9-16  inclusive 

12-28 

41 

18 

19 

22 

100 

It  is  evident  that  the  method  of  presentation  is 
not  the  determining  factor,  but  that  it  is  subordi- 
nate to  the  vital  element  of  time.  This  problem 
is  doubtless  to  be  solved  by  the  proper  use  of  the 
review. 

The  oral  presentation  showed  temporary  results 

in  its  favor,  and  retained  on  the  final  count  also  the 

_  .  slender  advantage  of  one  hundred 

Processes  in  ° 

graphic  and  five  to  one  hundred  ten.     But  an 

spe  ing  analysis  of  results  indicates  that 

the  superiority  of  the  oral  over  the  graphic  is  an  in- 


METHODS    OF    PRESENTATION     loi 

dividual  matter  rather  than  a  general  one.  For  A  the 
oral  is  far  better ;  for  B  the  graphic  clearly  excels ; 
for  C  and  D  there  seems  to  be  no  choice.  This 
does  not  consider  the  visual  element;  for  provided 
the  study  is  from  script,  the  visual  factor  is  the 
same  in  both  cases.  The  contrast  is  between  two 
types  of  motor  activity,  the  hand-motor  and  the 
articulatory,  though  the  auditory  element  is  neces- 
sarily involved  in  oral  spelling.  Some  children, 
however,  spell  almost  constantly  with  their  lips 
while  writing,  even  when,  for  purposes  of  experi- 
ment, they  are  forbidden  to  do  so.  B  does  this 
a  great  deal.  That  there  may  be  so  small  a  dif- 
ference between  the  actual  processes  in  oral  and 
written  spelling  has  not  been  generally  recognized. 
All  investigations  of  absolutely  pure  types  of  pres- 
entation have  interest  only  for  the  psychologist; 
for  the  teacher  they  have  little  significance,  since 
apparently  no  child  will  ever  use  a  pure  type  in 
study  unless  blindfolded,  bound  or  gagged. 

The  point  that  has  been  urged  in  favor  of  the 
oral  method  is  the  fact  that  an  error  is  detected 
Advantages  of  ^s  soon  as  made,  a  point  which 

each  method  q^j.  discussion  thus  far  has  more 

than  once  emphasized.  This  advantage  can  not  be 
gained  in  written  spelling  except  when  there  is  ade- 
quate and  careful  supervision  of  study.  We  have 
already  said,  however,  that  written  spelling  is  the 
final  test  of  spelling  efficiency,  and  it  is  certain  that 
there   is  not   full  transfer   from   oral  to  written 


I02    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

ability  to  spell.    It  may  further  be  said  to  the  disad- 
*      vantage  of  oral  spelling  that  it  confines  the  pupil 
practically  to  the  column  as  against  the  contextual 
method. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  in  neither  the 
graphic  nor  the  oral  methods  of  teaching  spelling  is 
Showing  a  pupil  it  certain  that  a  child  will  on  his 
his  error  own  initiative  become  conscious  of 

his  errors  and  remove  them.  The  boys  in  these  ex- 
periments proved  this  repeatedly.  When  one  boy 
misspelled  a  word  orally  and  another  spelled  it  cor- 
rectly after  him,  the  first  often  could  not  state 
what  his  error  was  or  even  where  it  was.  When 
one  on  being  asked  to  respell  a  word  missed  at 
first  spelled  it  correctly,  he  could  not  tell  what  was 
the  trouble  with  his  first  spelling.  When  a  word 
was  written  incorrectly,  by  accident  perhaps,  and 
the  writer  of  it  and  others  who  had  written  it  cor- 
rectly were  called  upon  to  locate  the  error,  they 
were  exceedingly  slow  in  finding  it,  or  they  failed 
altogether.  This  was  probably  due  to  the  fact  that 
they  examined  the  word  as  a  whole,  just  as  adults 
do  in  reading. 

(The  only  sure  way  for  a  pupil  to  correct  an  error 
is  for  him  to  do  the  thing  himself,  under  guidance 
when  necessary.  Too  much  of  our  attempted  cor- 
rection of  spelling  errors  has  been  based  on  the  as- 
sumption that  one  pupil,  or  perhaps  the  teacher,  can 
correct  the  errors  of  another  pupil.  One  can  correct 
only  one's  own  errors,  not  those  of  another.  In  writ- 


METHODS    OF    PRESENTATION     103 

ten  spelling,  teachers  ought  to  require  that  each 
pupil  should  correct  his  own  error  by  rewriting  the 
word  correctly  from  the  first.  Errors  in  oral  spell- 
ing must  be  treated  in  the  same  way.  Pupils,  too, 
should  always  show  where  their  errors  lie;  but  it 
is  not  insisted  that  they  should  reproduce  the  in- 
correct forms.  By  the  exercise  of  care  in  certain 
directions,  it  should  be  possible  to  utilize  oral  spell- 
ing occasionally  all  the  way  up  through  the  grades. 
It  may  release  erroneous  associations  without  de- 
lay, break  the  monotony  of  the  written  lesson,  and 
become  a  device  for  the  arousing  of  some  healthy 
rivalry  of  a  kind  that  does  not  always  impress  one 
as  he  views  the  class  writing  its  lesson. 


CHAPTER  VII 

SPELLING  EFFICIENCY  AND  COMPOSITION 

IT  has  been  more  or  less  generally  believed  that 
spelling  ability  bears  a  direct  relation  to  the 
quality  and  the  quantity  of  one's  writing.  To 
ascertain  the  relation  between  spelling  and  com- 
position, a  concluding  experiment  was  undertaken 
with  C  and  D.  Facility  in  composition  was  held 
out  as  the  aim  of  the  work,  in  order  to  insure  free- 
dom on  the  part  of  the  boys,  and  to  eliminate  the 
effect  which  the  personality  of  the  experimenter 
might  have  on  the  subjects'  consciousness  of  spell- 
ing. 

For  eight  days  the  boys  were  met  a  half -hour 
each  morning,  and  six  compositions  were  prepared. 
Plan  of  the  the  topics  being  "Boating  on  Lake 

^o^^  Mendota,"    "Fishing    Around 

Madison,"  "Coasting  in  Our  Town,"  "Other  Win- 
ter Sports"  (principally  skating,  snowballing  and 
hockey),  "How  I  Spent  the  Fourth"  (of  July), 
and  "Our  Trip  to  Colorado."  These  boys  had 
grown  up  in  the  hilly  city  of  Madison,  which  is 
surrounded  by  lakes;  their  own  home  is  on  the 
shore  of  Lake  Mendota ;  and  their  experfences  had 

104 


COMPOSITION  105 

been  much  the  same.  The  composition  on  the 
"Fourth"  was  written  July  tenth,  so  all  details  were 
still  fresh  in  their  minds.  The  trip  to  Colorado 
had  been  taken  by  both  boys  together  the  preceding 
summer.  Each  boy  said  more  than  once  that  his 
subject  was  larger  than  he  could  exhaust  in  the 
given  time.  To  reduce  the  delay  in  getting  started 
in  writing,  and  to  increase  spontaneity,  there  was 
a  brief  discussion  of  each  topic  in  advance;  and 
this  resulted  in  a  short  outline  being  placed  on  the 
board.  To  illustrate:  in  the  first  composition  the 
writers  were  urged  to  put  themselves  in  the  place 
of  a  boy  living  in  a  flat  prairie  country  at  a  distance 
from  any  body  of  water,  except  the  creek  or  com- 
munity "swimming  hole,"  and  to  describe  all  those 
things  very;  familiar  to  them,  but  new  and  interest- 
ing to  the  imaginary  correspondent.  They  were 
directed  also  to  describe  the  different  kinds  of  boats 
on  Mendota,  the  structure  and  motive  power,  and 
the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  each  for  spe- 
cial purposes. 

The  following  tables  show  certain  facts  with  re- 
gard to  the  six  compositions.  In  the  first  two  col- 
The  data  umns  of  Table  XIV  are  given  the 

gathered  ^^^jij  number  of  words  in  each 

composition.  In  the  second  two  appear  the  addi- 
tions to  the  vocabulary  previously  employed  by  each 
writer  in  this  series  of  compositions.  Columns  V 
and  VI  were  secured  by  dividing  Columns  III  and 
IV  by  Columns  I  and  II  respectively,  and  multiply- 


io6    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

ing  the  result  by  one  hundred.  Thus  they  represent 
the  addition  per  hundred  running  words  of  com- 
position to  the  vocabulary  previously  used  in  this 
series.  The  top  figure  in  Columns  III- VI  inclusive 
is  high,  of  course,  because  no  words  whatever  are 
left  out  of  consideration.  In  the  other  figures  the 
common  words  already  used  are  eliminated,  and  the 
effect  is  steadily  intensified. 

TABLE  XIV 

AMOUNT  OF  COMPOSITION  VERSUS  BREADTH  OP 
VOCABULARY 


Composition 

Running  words 

Addition  to  vocab- 
ulary previously 
employed 

Addition  per  100  run- 
ningworas  to  vocab. 
previously  employed 

C      1      D 

C 

D 

C 

D 

First 

Second . . . 

Third 

Fourth*.. . 

Fifth 

Sixth* .... 

141 
127 
137 

181 
116 
199 

199 
132 
143 
370 
327 
421 

66 
43 
28 
52 
37 
37 

77 
42 
38 
92 
67 
77 

47 
34 
20 
29 
32 
19 

39 
32 
27 
25 
20 
18 

Total... 

901 

1592 

263 

393 

29 

25 

In  Table  XV  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  com- 
pare accuracy  in  writing  with  the  amount  written. 
In  the  first  column  are  listed  for  the  entire  series 
the  number  of  mechanical  errors,  such  as  omission 
of  words  and  the  use  of  the  wrong  word,  as  a  for  as 


•  Fifty  minutes  were  given  to  compositions  four  and  six.  In  tallying 
the  vocabulary,  all  forms  of  a  verb  were  regarded  as  one  word;  also  both 
numbers  of  a  noun.  All  compound  words  of  doubtful  unity  were  reck- 
oned as  two  words;  likewise  all  adjectives  and  the  adverbs  to  which 
they  give  rise.    All  proper  names  were  discarded. 


COMPOSITION 


107 


or  an,  the  for  them,  and  other  lapses.  In  Column 
II  the  same  data  are  given,  but  with  reference  to 
the  length  of  the  compositions.  In  Column  III 
the  total  number  of  genuine  misspellings  in  the 
compositions  is  given,  followed  in  Column  IV  by 
the  relation  of  misspellings  to  breadth  of  vocabulary 
used.  But  there  may  have  been  a  number  of  lapses 
included  here  still,  especially  when  a  word  did  not 
occur  elsewhere  in  the  entire  series  of  compositions 
to  give  the  writer  an  opportunity  to  set  himself 
right.  Such  is  probably  the  case;  otherwise  the 
figures  of  Columns  V  and  VI  would  not  be  so 
much  less  than  those  of  Columns  III  and  IV  re- 
spectively. The  table  can  not  be  derived,  of  course, 
without  employing  the  totals  of  the  first  four  col- 
umns in  Table  XIV. 

TABLE  XV 

AMOUNT  OF  COMPOSITION  AND  BREADTH  OF  VOCAB- 
ULARY IN  RELATION  TO  LAPSES  AND 
MISSPELLINGS 


Pupi  ] 

Lapses 

Dififerent  words 
misspelled  in 
compositions 

Different  words 
misspelled  in 

both  the  compo- 
sitions and  subse- 
quent column  test 

Per  100  running 
words  of  comp. 

2 
0 

Per  100  words 
of  vocabulary 

15 

Per  100  words 
of  vocabulary 

C 
D 

18 
49 

2. 
3.08 

19 
28 

7.22* 
7.12 

5 
10 

1.90 
2.54 

•  C's  slight  inferiority  here  is  due  to  the  fact  that  many  of  his  occa- 
sional misspellings  were  probably  lapses.  Note  his  marked  superiority  the 
rest  of  the  way  through  the  table. 


io8    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

The  first  fact  to  attract  the  investigator's  atten- 
tion in  the  course  of  the  tests  was  the  delay  of  C 
Organization  ^^ch  day  in  starting  to  write.    Of 

of  ideas  course,  D  showed  some  hesitancy, 

too,  a  characteristic  even  of  older  students  when 
they  are  called  on  to  write  upon  any  new  theme. 
There  is  always  a  preliminary  pause  for  the  or- 
ganization of  ideas.  But  even  with  previous  dis- 
cussion of  the  general  subjects  treated,  and  ex- 
hortation "just  to  tell  it  right  off,"  this  delay  in 
C's  case  amounted  to  from  five  to  eight  minutes 
each  day.  For  this  reason,  the  last  two  topics 
were  chosen  with  a  view  to  offering  a  change  from 
description  to  narration  in  writing.  But  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  change  was  not  evident;  the  dis- 
parity between  the  two  boys  seemed  to  be  widened. 
The  investigator  was  confident  that  when  the  "Trip 
to  Colorado"  was  carried  over  to  the  second  day, 
C,  being  right  in  medias  res,  would  get  readily  to 
work ;  but  the  usual  pause  was  observed.  This,  the 
first  of  several  factors,  will  account  for  from  ten 
to  fifteen  per  cent,  of  D's  broader  vocabulary. 

Again,  C,  as  related  in  Chapter  VIII,  was  trou- 
bled by  his  spelling  conscience.  In  the  entire  course 
The  spelling  0^  the  experiment,  D  never  once 

conscience  asked  how  to  spell  a  word.     He 

simply  wrote  it  as  he  thought  it  ought  to  be,  or,  as 
he  once  put  it,  "without  doing  any  thinking  at  all." 
This,  by  the  way,  has  been  his  attitude  throughout. 
He  writes  down  a  word  the  first  way  it  comes  into 


COMPOSITION  109 

his  mitid,  and  does  not  often  make  a  change.  C, 
on  the  other  hand,  dehberates  and  worries  over 
many  words,  and  he  can  often  see  two  or  more 
ways  in  which  a  word  may  be  spelled  after 
he  has  written  it.  While  C  spends  time  in  serious 
reflection,  D  goes  swiftly  along  expressing  his 
thoughts  without  much  regard  to  spelling. 

A  third  factor  which  interfered  with  C's  writing 
was  his  attention  to  good  form  and  exactness  of 
Attention  to  Statement.     He  would  object,  for 

technique  instance,  to  saying  two   feet  if 

three  would  seem  to  be  nearer  the  truth.  But  though 
D  did  not  bother  about  exactness,  still  his  state- 
ments appeared  to  be  just  as  exact  as  C's,  possibly 
because  he  had  a  better  command  of  number,  or 
more  vivid  imagery.  The  best  proof  that  D  did 
not  stop  to  consider  these  matters  was  his  failure 
to  ask  questions  of  the  investigator,  which  C  often 
did.  C  in  oral  expression  showed  the  same  ten- 
dency to  consider  carefully  before  he  spoke.  When- 
ever he  made  an  error  in  his  composition  or  formed 
a  letter  wrongly,  he  had  to  erase;  but  D  would 
write  the  correct  form  over  the  incorrect  with  little 
regard  for  appearances.  At  the  close  of  the  ex- 
periment, each  boy  was  asked  to  write  in  his  ex- 
ercise book,  "This  is  my  best  handwriting."  This 
effort,  contrasted  with  the  legibility  of  their  general 
writing,  made  it  plain  that  C  executed  up  to  his 
standard  more  closely  than  did  D.  D's  composi- 
tions would  be  illegible  in  high  degree,  if  one  should 


no    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

try  to  make  out  isolated  words,  while  C's  were 
perfectly  and  easily  legible. 

Another  factor  closely  connected  with  the  last 
one  mentioned  is  writing  tempo.  Copies  of  a  sim- 
Rapidity  of  P^^  extract  from  Stanley's  Trav- 

^"^^"^8  els  in  Africa  were  given  the  boys, 

and  they  were  directed  to  copy  it  for  twenty-five 
minutes  as  fast  as  the  requirements  of  legibility 
would  warrant.  The  quality  of  writing  submitted 
by  the  boys  on  this  occasion  was  much  the  same 
as  that  appearing  in  their  compositions;  but  the 
words  on  the  average  were  considerably  longer.  C 
copied  two  hundred  eleven  words  and  D  two  hun- 
dred ninety-one  words  in  the  twenty-five  minutes. 
It  does  not  seem  probable  that  in  any  composition 
period,  C  ever  wrote  over  half  as  many  words  as  he 
could  have  copied;  but  D  did  somewhat  better. 
Probably  neither  would  have  felt  in  his  composi- 
tion writing  the  limitation  of  his  speed  in  hand- 
writing, except  for  the  lack  of  automatism  in 
spelling. 

In  actual  spelling  efficiency,  as  noted  in  this  test 
and  numerous  others,  C  is  plainly  superior  to  D, 
The  results  whether  the   method  be   oral   or 

summarized  written,    isolated    or    contextual. 

D*s  errors  are  from  twenty-five  to  one  hundred 
per  cent,  more  frequent.  D  wrote  seventy-five  per 
cent,  more  than  C  in  a  given  period  of  time,  and 
used  a  vocabulary  about  fifty  per  cent,  richer.  If 
we   take   the   first   nine   hundred    running   words 


COMPOSITION  III 

of  D's  compositions,  we  find  a  vocabulary  of  just 
four  words  less  than  the  total  for  C,  though  the 
latter  has  the  advantage  of  one  more  subject  in 
such  a  reckoning.  D  is  far  superior  in  both  facility 
and  variety  of  expression.  There  also  appears  to 
be  greater  initiative,  individuality  and  life  in  his 
work,  greater  sincerity  in  his  treatment  of  a  theme, 
more  of  concrete  statement,  and  more  interest  felt 
by  the  writer  in  what  he  writes.  In  respect  to  form 
alone  is  he  inferior  to  C. 

It  therefore  does  not  appear,  so  far  as  C  and  D 
are  concerned,  that  actual  spelling  efficiency  is  a 
dominant  factor  in  producing  facile  and  effective 
writing,  or  that  it  introduces  variety  by  enriching 
the  vocabulary.  Time  lost  in  organizing  ideas,  con- 
sciousness of  spelling  difficulties  and  pitfalls,  and 
unnecessary  stickling  for  form  and  exactness,  are 
far  more  important  forces  in  determining  effective 
written  expression,  or  the  reverse. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SOME  SPECIAL   FACTORS  IN   SPELLING 

IT  is  proposed  to  bring  together  in  this  chapter 
a  number  of  facts  gathered  in  the  entire  course 
of  the  experiments  and  not  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
Leaming  to  read  ^^^'"^  chapters.  Incidental  to 
in  relation  to  the  collection  of  the  spelling  pa- 

eaming   o  spe        ^^^^  ^^^  other  information  which 

formed  the  basis  of  Chapter  II,  the  university  and 
the  high-school  students  were  asked  to  describe  the 
method  by  which  they  had  learned  to  read.  In- 
structors were  told  how  to  explain  the  question. 
The  answers  were  as  follows : 

TABLE  XVI 

Method  of  learning  No.  of  cases    Average  on  spelling  test 

to  read  H.  S.  Univ.  H.  S.  Univ. 

Alphabetic    32  25  68            85 

Word  or  sentence 6  10  65             83 

Phonic    15  9  59  81 

Combination  of  meth- 
ods   4  11  83            89 

Answers    indefinite 

or  lacking  12  15  56             86 

The  frequency  with  which  the  alphabet  is  taught 
at  home  at  an  early  age,  and  the  combination  of 

112 


SOME   SPECIAL   FACTORS  113 

methods  in  school  may  be  responsible  for  the  con- 
fusion and  uncertainty  in  the  answers  of  some  of 
the  students.  Many  older  people  can  sympathize 
with  the  one  who  wrote:  "I  do  not  remember  how 
I  learned  to  read.  It  seems  as  if  I  have  always 
known  how." 

To  the  adult  who  will  take  time  for  introspection, 
it  will  be  apparent  that  he  does  not  grasp  a  new  word 
as  a  whole,  but  proceeds  analytically  from  the  start. 
He  sees  it  not  as  a  complex  unit  but  as  a  compound 
of  essential  elements.  These  he  unites  to  form  the 
word ;  but  the  syllable  may  be  an  intervening  unity 
with  some.  But  is  this  the  experience  of  one  who  is 
well  advanced  in  reading  before  he  learns  his  let- 
ters ?  Will  not  one  so  taught  always  tend  to  acquire 
new  words  as  wholes,  which  may  do  very  well  for 
reading  but  not  for  spelling?  The  troubles  en- 
countered by  one  who  takes  an  habitually  phonetic 
attitude  toward  words,  most  of  them  so  unphonetic 
as  they  are  in  English,  are  surely  very  great.  What- 
ever be  the  best  method  of  teaching  reading,  we 
must  assume  that  spelling  is  going  to  be  hampered 
by  any  method  which  does  not  train  a  child  at  first 
to  see  the  various  letters  in  a  word  and  to  execute 
them  in  their  proper  order  regardless  of  their 
sounds.  The  students  exarhined  in  this  investiga- 
tion who  worked  from  the  phonic  or  the  word-sen- 
tence over  to  the  alphabetic  method  in  reading  at  an 
early  stage  made  the  best  showing  of  all  in  their 
spelling.    Their  rapid  progress  in  their  reading  had 


114    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

evidently  promoted  the  acquisition  of  an  effective 
vocabulary,  their  sense  of  phonics  had  been  devel- 
oped, and  they  had  learned  to  resolve  words  into 
letters. 

The  extent  to  which  fear  of  making  errors  affects 
one  in  spelling  is  interesting  and  important.  In  the 
Fear  of  making  group  of  four  boys  already  re- 
*"°"  ferred  to,  C  was  much  the  best 

speller  of  the  group  in  the  beginning,  and  he  pos- 
sessed a  high  degree  of  self-confidence.  But  his 
own  mistakes,  and  the  numerous  and  grotesque  ones 
of  his  fellows  observed  by  him  at  every  exercise, 
gradually  undermined  his  assurance,  and  seemed  to 
interfere  with  his  efficiency.  At  the  last,  he  was  only 
slightly  superior  to  B  and  D,  in  contrast  with  his 
marked  superiority  at  the  start.  In  his  compositions, 
he  came  to  ask  aid  in  spelling  easier  and  easier 
words.  One  of  the  writers  has  felt  the  same  sort 
of  disturbing  influence  as  a  result,  apparently,  of 
the  continued  examination  and  comparison  of  mis- 
spellings in  the  course  of  the  present  work.  Both 
C  and  the  experimenter  came  out  of  the  series  of 
tests  injured  rather  than  benefited  in  their  spelling, 
as  far  as  freedom  and  self-confidence  are  concerned. 
A,  B  and  D  did  not  seem  to  anticipate  trouble  as 
C  finally  came  to.  They  appeared  not  to  have  de- 
veloped a  fear  of  a  misstep  that  might  happen  at 
any  time,  as  C  did. 

A  special  precaution  should  be  referred  to  here. 
Work  on  the  correction  of  mistakes  should  be  a 


SOME    SPECIAU   FACTORS  115 

Seeing  and  hear-  matter  of  individual  instruction 
ing  mistakes  whenever  possible.     It  is  serious 

enough  for  one  to  have  to  look  over  his  own  errors, 
without  having  to  see  those  of  others.  B  was 
peculiarly  susceptible  to  mistakes  made  in  his  hear- 
ing. In  his  study  of  a  lesson,  he  might  not  have 
any  trouble  with  a  given  word,  but  in  the  test  a 
little  later  he  might  produce  the  same  misspelling 
as  that  made  by  another  in  the  study  period.  Of 
this  trait  he  seemed  wholly  unconscious.  But  in 
contrast  with  C,  he  appeared  able  to  recognize  this 
as  a  personal  weakness,  when  he  was  reminded  of 
it,  and  to  labor  consciously  and  efficiently  for  its 
eradication. 

B  and  C  showed  that  they  both  often  attempted 
to  "reason  out"  their  spelling.  They  tried  to  decide 
Can  one  reason  one  word  on  the  basis  of  others, 
out  a  spelling?  saying — "It  seems  as  if  it  would 
be  spelled  like  this  word  or  this  one."  B  once 
asked  how  the  order  of  i  and  ^  in  a  certain  word 
could  be  remembered.  The  investigator  explained 
that  it  was  just  the  reverse  of  a  similar  word,  and 
an  exception  to  the  rule.  D  suggested  that  one 
ought  "just  remember  it."  As  a  result  of  this 
attitude,  B  and  C  drew  many  analogies  from  other 
words.  B  wrote,  for  example,  prestidge  (suggest- 
ing bridge),  dishartened  (using  hart),  inborne  (us- 
ing borne),  and  holesail  (showing  double  confusion 
of  homonyms).  The  other  boys  did  the  same  thing, 
but  to  a  less  extent. 


ii6    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

Auditory  similarities  between  words  do  not  appeal 
to  some  persons  at  all,  though  such  similarities  are 
Auditory  and  prominent  with  others.     B  and  C 

visual  types  would    often    in   a   joking   way 

make  clever  rhymes  of  the  words  of  the  lesson, 
and  others.  Any  spelling  device  based  on  the  mean- 
ing of  words  did  not  appeal  to  B,  because  he  spelled 
in  terms  of  sound.  To  illustrate,  he  spelled  frus- 
trate without  the  first  r.  He  was  shown  the  differ- 
ence in  the  pronunciation  of  what  he  had  written 
and  what  he  should  have  written.  The  mistake 
seemed  to  amuse  him  greatly,  and  after  class  he 
ran  about  writing  on  the  board  "fuss  straight." 
Few  would  have  thought  of  such  a  combination. 
When  some  of  the  class  had  trouble  with  the  first 
two  syllables  of  malefactor,  it  was  suggested,  in 
harmony  with  the  meaning  of  the  word,  that  most 
malefactors  were  of  the  male  sex.  This  device,  B 
pointed  out,  might  lead  to  mail  factor.  Hence  he 
missecj  m^^ef actor  on  the  final  test.  To  remedy 
derth,  it  was  suggested  that  he  think  of  the  word 
made  by  leaving  off  d,  earth.  This  stuck  by  him, 
because  it  was  based  on  sound.  In  respect  to  audi- 
tory spelling,  A  works  in  contrast  to  B  and  C.  A 
never  relies  on  mere  sound  in  spelling,  unless  the 
word  seems  wholly  strange  and  he  has  nothing  but 
the  sound  to  guide  him.  Three  times  each,  C  and  D 
spelled  malign  as  maline.  Although  A  could  not 
spell  the  word  correctly,  he  never  once  omitted  the 


SOME    special;   factors  117 

g.     Unlike  B,  he  never  spelled  with  his  lips  when 

he  wrote. 

We  must  not  from  this  description  of  differences 

infer  that  therjs  are  spellers  who  rely  wholly  on  one 

sort  of  imagery.     Dominance  of 
No  pure  types  ,  .      , 

certam  types  must  be  recognized, 

but  that  is  as  far  as  one  may  go.    People  frequently 

talk  of  "eye-s^Wtrs"  and  'Var-spellers."    But  there 

was  no  pure  type  in  the  group  studied  in  these 

experiments.     When  A  spelled  meaver  for  neither 

and  was  asked  what  he  had  written,  he  pronounced 

meauer  as  any  good  speller  would  have  done.    There 

is  probably  no  such  thing  as  a  strict  unphonetic 

speller.     When  a  word  is  strange,  one  will  always 

spell  as  it  "sounds."     Again,  B  and  C  have  both 

said  time  and  again  that  "it  doesn't  look  right." 

One  of  the  writers  knows  of  one  peculiar  case  which 

must  have  approximated  the  pure  visual  type.     A 

foreign  schoolmate  who  spoke  English  very  well 

became  much  interested  in  spelling,  and  studied  her 

lessons  diligently.    If  the  teacher  should  pronounce 

first  to  her  the  second  word  of  the  lesson,  she  would 

probably  spell  the  first.     And  this  was  in  an  oral 

spelling  class.     The  fact  that  the  class  was  being 

conducted   according   to   the   auditory-articulatory 

method  did  not  affect  the  pupil's  exclusive  reliance 

on  visual  imagery. 

In  Chapter  III  several  typical  sources  of  error 

were  discussed  with  respect  to  their  cause  and  fre- 


ii8    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

Dominant  type  quency.  Cantinued  work  with  a 
of  error  fg^  subjects  reveals  the  fact  that 

the  frequency  of  occurrence  of  any  type  of  error 
varies  widely  for  different  persons.  The  disposi- 
tion of  some  to  rely  largely  on  analogies  has  been 
mentioned.  Other  cases  in  point  are  the  mistakes 
due  to  failure  to  double  a  consonant,  and  those 
resulting  from  the  unnecessary  doubling  of  a 
consonant.  A,  B  and  C  are  much  more  likely 
to  make  an  error  by  not  doubling  the  conso- 
nant than  the  opposite,  while  D  does  just  the 
reverse.  A  has  a  way  of  catching  the  wrong 
pronunciation  of  the  word,  perhaps  leaving  out 
syllables;  and  he  will  invert  the  order  of  two 
successive  letters  in  either  oral  or  written  spelling. 
Another  failing  of  his  is  the  frequent  interchang- 
ing of  s  and  c  when  they  have  the  same  sound. 
The  elided  vowel  is  a  constant  source  of  difficulty, 
and  made  trouble  for  each  member  of  this  group. 
The  old-fashioned  oral  spelling  made  a  fetish 
of  syllabication,  while  the  new-fashioned  written 
Syllabication  spelling    in    many    schools    often 

as  an  aid  ignores    syllables    completely. 

Words  are  written  as  wholes  in  the  spelling  lesson, 
because  they  are  to  function  as  wholes  in  actual 
use  in  the  future.  Some  of  the  spelling  text-books 
do  not  present  words  syllabicated  for  study.  The 
useful  purposes  which  syllabication  may  serve  have 
already  been  pointed  out';  but  the  question  arises 
whether  the  visual  images  of  words  are  not  con- 


SOME    SPECIAL   FACTORS  119 

fused  by  having  the  words  chopped  up  into  pieces, 
in  which  form  they  will  not  be  used  in  real  life. 
C  did  not  seem  to  have  any  preference  in  the  matter, 
but  there  was  some  complaint  from  A  and  B  to 
the  effect  that  words  studied  orally  with  the  sylla- 
bles written  apart  did  not  look  familiar  when  finally 
written  as  wholes.  Probably  the  advantages  of  syl- 
labication may  be  gained  without  any  of  its  dis- 
advantages, if  the  words  are  presented  in  syllables, 
but  written  at  least  once  as  wholes  before  any  test 
is  imposed.  For  unless  he  is  a  pure  audile,  if 
there  is  such  a  type,  the,  pupil  needs  while  studying 
a  word  to  see  it  as  it  is  finally  to  appear. 

In  the  course  of  these  experiments  some  effort 
was  directed  toward  ascertaining  the  correlation  of 
Traits  that  make  spelling  ability  with  Other  simple 
good  spellers  traits.    This  was  prompted  by  the 

desire  to  discover  the  cause  of  A's  curious  spellings 
of  the  more  difficult  words,  and  his  failures  with 
the  more  simple  ones.  It  had  been  suspected  that 
this  boy  had  defective  vision,  since  he  had  been 
observed  frequently  rubbing  his  eyes.  He  was 
strong  in  all  his  school  work  except  spelling  and 
oral  reading,  though  his  articulation  in  conversation 
was  defective.  An  optician  had  pronounced  his  vis- 
ion normal.  The  Snellen  test  showed  A,  C  and  D  to 
have  both  eyes  of  normal  acuity,  but  B's  right  eye 
was  below  normal.  The  simple  test  for  astigmatism 
indicated  that  B  has  some  trouble  with  his  left  eye 
and  C  some  trouble  with  both.     This  may  assist 


I20    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

in  explaining  C's  frequent  omission  of  a  letter  here 
and  there  in  a  word.  The  "A"  test — the  simple 
canceling  of  all  A's  on  a  page  of  letters  with  the 
pupil  working  at  maximum  speed — placed  B  first, 
C  second  and  D  third,  with  respect  to  both  speed 
and  accuracy.  A  was  fourth  in  speed,  but  ranked 
between  B  and  C  in  accuracy. 

Attention  was  then  directed  to  the  hearing  of 
the  boys.  A  had  written  in  an  early  lesson  inprove 
for  improve.  After  some  questioning  it  was  found 
that,  though  the  word  had  long  been  familiar  to  him 
and  had  been  used  by  him,  he  had  always  thought  it 
was  inprove.  This,  coupled  with  his  phonetic  pro- 
nunciation of  his  misspellings  of  various  new 
words,  suggested  that  he  had  some  degree  of  deaf- 
ness. But  in  a  test  with  Seashore's  audiometer, 
an  instrument  for  grading  very  delicately  the  loud- 
ness of  sounds,  he  was  apparently  able  to  detect 
a  fainter  sound  than  any  of  the  other  boys.  This 
was  preceded  and  followed  by  several  tests  on  ability 
to  discriminate  or  identify  the  sound  heard.  Both 
letters  and  simple  words  were  tried:  The  general 
result  indicated  that  A's  discrimination  was  only 
slightly  mferior  when  the  proper  apperceptive  basis 
was  laid.  For  instance,  if  it  were  announced  that 
the  choice  were  to  be  made  from  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet  or  from  a  specified  list  of  simple  words, 
he  would  hold  his  own ;  but  if  the  choice  were  made 
from  a  wide  range  of  simple  words,  and  he  were 
given  no  cue  beforehand,  he  would  fall  behind  the 


SOME   SPECIAL   FACTORS  121 

others.  Memory  span  for  letters  and  for  words, 
viz.,  ability  to  reproduce  accurately  a  series  im- 
mediately after  it  is  presented,  did  not  vary  much 
between  the  members  of  this  group — ^not  enough 
to  explain  spelling  differences.  In  fact,  the  series 
of  psychological  tests  on  simple  traits  demonstrated 
nothing  for  this  group  that  correlated  at  all  highly 
with  spelling  ability,  except  possibly  A's  defective 
auditory  discrimination. 


PART  II 
THE  SPELLING  VOCABULARY 


CHAPTER  IX 

POPULAR   VIEWS   OF   SPELLING   NEEDS 

WE  may  now  turn  from  the  problems  of  learn- 
ing to  spell  to  the  question  of  what  should 
be  taught  in  spelling.  The  typical  layman,  were 
Present  theory  he   compelled   to   select   a   speller 

and  practise  fQj-  jjjg  children,  would  probably 

give  preference  to  that  text  which  presented  word 
lists  composed  of  the  more  difficult  and  unusual 
terms.  Evidence  of  this  may  be  seen  in  the  keen 
interest  and  appreciation  shown  by  many  adults  in 
the  successful  mastery  of  "hard"  words  by  the 
young.  Within  the  last  few  months,  observations 
have  been  made  in  different  schools  with  special 
reference  to  the  word  lists  of  the  spelling  lessons. 
A  number  of  lists  used  for  tests  or  spelling  matches 
in  different  parts  of  the  country  have  been  collected, 
and  educational  literature  has  been  searched  for 
opinions  as  to  what  constitutes  a  fair  attainment 
in  spelling  for  graduates  of  the  elementary  school. 
Public  school-teachers  and  administrators  of  long 
experience  have  been  interviewed,  and  the  opinions 
of  university  professors  engaged  in  studying  the 
problems  of  education  have  been  gathered.     The 

125 


126    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

question  put  to  all  these  persons  was:  How  many 
words  should  a  child  be  able  to  spell  when  he  fin- 
ishes the  eighth  grade  ?  Estimates  made  by  the  vari- 
ous persons  mentioned  ran  all  the  way  from  five 
hundred  to  fifteen  thousand  words. 

The  basis  for  making  an  estimate  was  learned 
in  a  number  of  cases.  One  person  said  one  thou- 
sand words,  because  of  his  conviction  that  this  num- 
ber is  considerably  beyond  the  ability  of  many 
eighth-grade  pupils  as  taught  at  present;  and  so 
we  should  be  satisfied  with  one  thousand.  Two 
others  gave  an  answer  based  on  the  assumption  that 
one  word  per  day  with  its  inflected  forms  is  as 
much  as  a  child  can  learn.  Another  calculated  about 
twice  as  many  on  the  principle  that  a  child  can 
learn  two  words  per  day.  Two  men  estimated  from 
eight  thousand  to  ten  thousand  words,  one  of  them 
on  the  theory  that  the  child  should  be  able  to  spell 
from  two-thirds  to  three-fourths  of  his  reading  vo- 
cabulary, the  latter  having  been  calculated  by  ex- 
periment. The  principle  implied  in  most  of  these 
estimates  appears  to  be  that  a  child  needs  to  know 
the  spelling  of  an  enormous  number  of  words,  and 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  school  to  have  him  mas- 
ter as  many  as  possible.  Some  fairly  close  canvass- 
ing indicates  that  the  average  elementary  speller 
contains  upward  of  six  thousand  words,  though 
there  is  great  variation,  as  will  be  seen  later.  In 
most  of  our  larger  public  schools,  the  spelling-book 
is  supplemented  by  words  selected  from  the  child's 


POPULAR   VIEWS  127 

regular  studies.  A  rough  estimate  of  the  number 
of  words  presented  to  the  typical  pupil  of  a  first- 
class  elementary  school,  for  purposes  of  spelling, 
gives  from  eight  thousand  to  ten  thousand.  It 
should  be  added  that  those  school  men  who  said 
that  four  thousand  words  or  less  would  be  a  rea- 
sonable requirement  had  nevertheless  made  a  prac- 
tise of  using  in  the  schools  under  their  supervision 
spellers  containing  the  usual  number  of  words. 
This  is  merely  an  additional  indication  of  the  lack 
of  a  critical  attitude  toward  the  problem. 

Before  proceeding  to  any  examination  or  criti- 
cisrn  of  the  content  of  these  long  spelling  lists,  it 
Purpose  of  ^^Y  be  said  that  the  purpose  of 

spelling  teaching    spelling    should    be    to 

give  the  pupil  the  ability  to  write  readily  such  words 
as  he  may  have  occasion  to  use  in  the  typical  sit- 
uations of  real  life.  We  should  keep  clearly  dis- 
tinct at  all  times  the  three  sorts  of  vocabularies 
— the  reading,  writing  and  oral  vocabularies.  Now, 
spelling  relates  to  the  mastery  of  the  second  of 
these — the  writing  vocabulary.  Some  reader  may 
be  inclined  to  hold  that  it  is  of  value  for  a  person 
to  know  how  to  spell  all  the  words  of  his  reading 
vocabulary.  This  would  assuredly  be  true  if  there 
were  any  necessary  connection  between  knowing 
how  to  spell  a  word,  and  recognizing  that  word 
when  again  presented,  or  recalling  its  significance. 
But  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  such  a  con- 
nection exists;  indeed,  plenty   of  evidence   to  the 


128    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

contrary  can  be  gained  by  any  observant  teacher 
any  day  in  the  schoolroom.  For  example, 
every  experienced  teacher  knows  well  the  con- 
stant struggle  which  is  necessary  to  prevent 
children  learning  glibly  the  spelling  of  many 
words  which  mean  nothing  to  them,  while  poor 
spellers  often  have  no  trouble  in  getting  the 
meaning  of  the  words  of  their  text-books.  Many 
people,  too,  become  intelligent  readers  of  a  for- 
eign language  without  learning  its  spelling  to 
any  extent.  As  to  the  oral  vocabulary,  it  is  no 
doubt  much  nearer  the  writing  vocabulary  in 
scope  than  is  the  reading  vocabulary.  But  it  is 
perfectly  obvious  that  efficiency  in  the  oral  use  of 
a  word  does  not  arise  from  a  knowledge  of  its 
spelling.  It  is  possibly  true  that  if  an  individual 
mispronounces  a  word  he  will  be  helped  sometimes 
if  he  be  given  its  spelling;  but  if  the  word  be 
unphonetic,  and  the  spelling  be  impressed  upon  him, 
he  is  more  likely  to  be  hindered  than  helped  in  its 
pronunciation. 

It  is  sometimes  asked  whether  the  brief  focusing 
of  a  child's  attention  on  the  spelling  of  a  word, 
even  though  he  does  not  halt  long  enough  thor- 
oughly to  master  it,  may  not  help  in  transferring 
it  from  his  reading  to  his  oral  vocabulary.  There 
are  probably  but  two  factors  that  determine  the 
effective  adoption  of  a  word  into  one's  oral  vo- 
cabulary. They  are  the  content  and  the  pronun- 
ciation of  the  word.     The  content,  however,  must 


POPULAR  VIEWS  129 

come,  not  from  the  mechanical  arrangement  of  the 
letters  to  form  the  word,  or  its  spelling,  but  from 
its  relation  to  other  familiar  words  in  the  context. 
The  pronunciation  may  be  gained  by  the  child  from 
his  knowledge  of  phonics,  or  it  may  come  by  imi- 
tating the  pronunciation  of  another  person.  But 
attention  given  to  the  literal  elements  of  a  word 
in  order  to  make  out  its  correct  pronunciation  will 
ordinarily  fall  short  of  what  is  necessary  in  order 
to  insure  its  correct  spelling,  except  in  the  case  of 
words  so  thoroughly  phonetic  that  neither  spelling 
nor  pronunciation  is  at  all  difficult.  Before  the 
child  can  fluently  use  a  word  orally,  he  must  grow 
accustomed  to  its  sound  as  a  whole,  by  hearing 
others  pronounce  it,  and  by  pronouncing  it  him- 
self, first  in  reading,  then  in  conversation,  so  that 
he  may  come  to  feel  at  home  with  the  word. 

The  foregoing  statement  of  the  purpose  of  teach- 
ing spelling  should  not  be  let  pass  without  an  addi- 

-        -.  ^  tional   word    of    explanation    or 

Immediate  versus  ^ 

ultimate  values  qualification.      By   "words  which 

in  spe  ing  ^^  pupil   will  have   occasion   to 

write  in  the  typical  situations  of  real  life,"  is  meant 
only  those  which  he  will  have  need  for  after  his 
school-days  are  over.  The  proper  names  found  in 
Scott's  Lady  of  the  Lake  and  in  the  early  chapters 
of  United  States  history  were  a  part  of  the  spelling 
work  in  one  class  room  which  the  investigator  vis- 
ited, yet  none  of  the  names  in  the  list,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  Christian  names,  is  likely  ever 


I30    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

to  be  written  by  more  than  five  per  cent,  of  the 
members  of  that  class  in  later  life.  Practically 
all  of  the  comparatively  few  who  will  make  use  of 
these  words  are  those  who  will  continue  their  study 
along  special  lines,  or  who  will  enter  teaching. 
When  the  instructor  of  this  class  was  asked  re- 
garding the  motive  in  this  work,  she  remarked,  with 
some  show  of  surprise  at  such  a  question,  that 
"otherwise  the  class  would  not  spell  accurately  in 
their  papers  on  United  States  history  and  the  writ- 
ten language  work  based  on  the  Lady  of  the  Lake." 
Now  there  is  no  support  for  the  notion  that  appre- 
ciation of  either  history  or  literature  is  in  any  way 
linked  up  with  the  spelling  of  the  proper  names  in- 
volved ;  indeed  there  is  much  evidence  on  the  other 
side.  One  of  the  chief  dangers  in  the  "incidental'* 
teaching  of  spelling  is  to  be  found  in  the  disposi- 
tion to  bring  in  more  or  less  technical  terms  from 
the  various  studies,  as  in  the  case  of  history  and 
literature.  Of  course,  no  one  would  countenance 
the  conscious  misspelling  of  any  words  by  pupils. 
It  would  be  advisable  for  them  to  come  to  feel 
that  any  word,  no  matter  how  rare,  should  be  spelled 
correctly.  On  the  other  hand,  the  teacher  should 
give  the  children  the  privilege  of  using  the  diction- 
ary, or  should  inform  them  outright  of  the  spelling 
of  infrequent  words,  instead  of  including  such  in 
the  regular  spelling  lists. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  a  consideration  of  the  lists 
of  words  found  in  spelling  text-books.    While  every 


POPULAR   VIEWS  131 

Pruning  One  is  likely  to  agree  to  the  gen- 

word  lists  gj.^j  proposition  that  such  lists  as 

are  at  present  taught  contain  some  useless  words, 
there  is  still  a  lack  of  agreement  as  to  what  should 
be  omitted.  For  instance,  a  distinguished  educator 
has  recently  said — "I  have  on  file  a  very  carefully 
selected  list  of  twenty  thousand  words,  no  one  of 
which  a  grammar-school  graduate  should  miss.  .  .  . 
It  includes  only  forty-five  salt  and  fresh  water 
fishes."  He  is  apparently  counting  as  separate 
words  all  standard  variations  of  the  various  parts 
of  speech,  except  those  adding  s,  so  his  list  would 
probably  shrink  to  sixteen  thousand  or  seventeen 
thousand  words  if  reduced  to  a  dictionary  basis  by 
eliminating  all  these  standard  variations.  Yet  it 
is  to  some  inconceivable  that  a  grammar-school 
graduate  will  ever  write  the  names  of  forty-five 
fishes,  unless  he  becomes  a  catcher  or  raiser  of 
fish,  or  an  ichthyologist.  What  about  the  millions 
of  our  people  who  live  far  from  the  seas  and  the 
lakes?  The  same  author  writes  a  little  later,  "A 
good  standard  dictionary  to-day  contains  over  four 
hundred  thousand  words,  not  counting  plurals  of 
nouns  and  other  standard  variations.  Of  these  a 
quarter  would  be  useful  to  average  men  if  they 
could  learn  them,  which  is,  however,  obviously  im- 
possible." We  can  not  but  regard  this  number  of 
words  as  altogether  beyond  reason.  One  hundred 
thousand  words  useful  to  the  "average"  man! 
Shakespeare  appealed  to  all  sorts  of  men,  irrespec- 


132     THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

tive  of  race,  with  only  fifteen  thousand ;  and  Milton 
with  a  modest  eight  thousand  was  able  to  express 
himself  in  a  wide  range  of  literature  of  permanent 
value.  Life,  to  be  sure,  is  more  complex  to-day 
than  ever  before;  but  the  limits  of  the  ordinary 
man's  mind  still  are  set,  and  year  by  year  increas- 
ing specialization  decreases  the  range  within  which 
a  modern  man  must  make  his  adjustments.  In 
addition  to  this,  one  may  be  led  to  very  erroneous 
conclusions  by  comparing  an  "average"  man  of  the 
twentieth  century  or  any  other  time,  with  the  Mil- 
tons  or  the  Shakespeares  who  have  played  so  promi- 
nent a  role  in  building  our  language. 

There  are  two  fundamental  objections,  implicit 
or  explicit,  that  one  will  meet  in  attempting  to  cut 

down  our  spelling  lists.  The  first 
Reasons  for  op-       •      -i,  i.  j         i.-  •     * 

position  to  cur-      ^^   the   exaggerated   notion,   just 

tailment  of  vo-  alluded  to,  of  the  use  an  "aver- 
cabulary 

age '  man  has  for  a  big  vocabu- 
lary. This  arises  partly  from  the  fact  that  in  pass- 
ing on  the  eligibility  of  a  word  for  a  place  in  the 
spelling  lists  of  an  elementary  school,  one  almost 
habitually  bases  his  judgment  upon  his  feeling  as 
to  whether  he  personally  has  ever  used  that 
word  in  written  communication.  This  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at,  since  to  each  of  us  our  own  experi- 
ence is  easily  accessible,  and  that  of  others  is  usually 
remote  or  unknown. 

The    second    difficulty    encountered    in   pruning 
word  lists  lies  in  the  prevailing  domination  of  our 


POPULAR   VIEWS  133 

elementary  by  our  secondary  schools,  and  our  sec- 
ondary by  our  higher  institutions.  Each  higher 
institution  has  felt  justified,  until  very  recently  at 
least,  in  prescribing  for  the  lower  school  the  sub- 
ject-matter which  is  thought  necessary  to  prepare  a 
small  portion  of  its  membership  for  the  superior 
school.  The  new  movement  to  make  courses  of 
study  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  majority  rather 
than  the  minority  of  pupils  in  the  schools  has  thus 
far  had  no  effect  worth  noting  on  spelling.  In  the 
pursuit  of  an  inquiry  relative  to  the  spelling  needs  of 
elementary-school  pupils,  the  writers  have  met  with 
such  suggestions  as  that  they  should  cover  the  corre- 
spondence of  an  ex-senator,  or  study  a  newspaper 
of  national  reputation,  whose  columns  are  filled 
by  highly  trained  writers.  An  intelligent  lady 
argued  tenaciously  that  the  term  Mukden  (of 
recent  military  significance)  should  be  taught  be- 
cause the  child  "may  have  to  write  it  some  time." 
No  one  has  proposed  that  Cherokee  or  Apache,  or 
even  Spanish,  Igorrote,  Chinese  or  Hindu  be  made 
a  compulsory  study  in  the  elementary  school  be- 
cause some  of  the  children  may  become  interpreters 
or  missionaries;  yet  the  probability  of  the  latter  is 
surely  much  greater  than  that  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  future  United  States  senators,  metropolitan 
newspaper  correspondents,  or  writers  of  world  his- 
tory are  sitting  in  every  schoolroom  in  the  land. 

Of  course,  in  all  education  of  whatever  grade, 
we  must  take  some  chances.     If  one  be  given  a 


134    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

special  education  he  may  prove  a  misfit,  and  may- 
harm  rather  than  help  society ;  or  the  child  or  youth 
may  die  before  he  reaches  his  productive  years, 
thus  entailing  not  only  a  heavy  family  loss,  but 
a  large  social  one  as  well.  On  the  sociological 
side,  at  any  rate,  education  can  never  become  an 
exact  science.  There  is  nothing  we  can  teach  a 
child  and  be  certain  that  it  will  function  later.  The 
best  we  can  do  is  to  select  our  materials  in  such 
a  way  that  there  will  be  a  high  degree  of  proba- 
bility that  they  will  all  be  of  service  in  the  later 
life  of  nearly  all  the  pupils.  This  is  the  more  true 
since  one  hears  constantly  the  complaint  that  the 
program  of  study  is  overcrowded,  and  that  many 
subjects  really  worth  while  have  to  be  omitted.  No 
one  of  special  vocational  or  professional  aptitude 
or  inclination  should  ask  to  have  the  course  for  all 
distorted  in  order  to  minister  to  his  peculiar  needs. 
But  if  it  becomes  apparent  that  a  large  percentage  of 
the  pupils  of  a  school  are  destined  to  enter  a  par- 
ticular calling,  classes  may  be  formed  for  instruc- 
tion in  the  essentials  of  this  special  business;  and 
among  those  essentials  may  well  be  included  the 
spelling  of  a  number  of  technical  words  relating 
to  this  calling. 


CHAPTER  X 

DETERMINING  THE  WRITTEN  VOCABULARY  OF  TYPI- 
CAL  AMERICANS 

HAVING  in  view  the  matters  discussed  in  the 
last  chapter,  the  writers  have  undertaken  an 
investigation  of  the  spelHng  needs  of  American 
An  experimental  children.  Not  many  attempts  of 
study  of  spelling  this  character  have  yet  been 
made;  but  recently  a  survey 
was  made  of  the  word  list  employed  in  the  issues 
of  several  Buffalo  Sunday  papers.*  It  was  discov- 
ered that  in  about  forty-four  thousand  running 
words  of  composition  taken  from  the  newspapers 
in  question,  about  six  thousand  different  words  and 
forms  of  words  were  used.  This  number  would 
shrink  perhaps  a  thousand  or  more  if  reduced  to 
a  dictionary  basis,  as  already  defined.  The  astound- 
ing fact  appeared  that  seven  words  constituted  over 
one- fourth  of  the  whole  number.  Chancellor  at- 
tempted to  ascertain  from  a  number  of  letters  that 
came  to  his  desk  the  one  thousand  most  important 
words.f     This  when  reduced  to  a  dictionary  basis 

*  Eldridge,   Six   Thousand   Common  English    Words.    Ni- 
agara Falls,  N.  Y. 
t  Journal  of  Education,  May  26,  1910. 


136    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

shrinks  to  eight  hundred  eighty-three  words.  No  de- 
tailed statement,  however,  is  made  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  study  was  conducted,  or  as  to  the  busi- 
ness and  education  of  the  correspondents.  The  Hst 
is  not  arranged  in  a  strictly  alphabetical  order, 
consequently  about  a  dozen  words  are  repeated. 
No  note  is  made  of  the  comparative  frequency  of 
the  different  words,  so  that  one  is  left  in  doubt  as 
to  whether  frequency  was  actually  studied  at  all. 
An  interesting  study  of  this  matter  was  made 
recently  by  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation.*     The 

results  were  published  in  Febru- 
Ayres'  study  .... 

of  spelling  ary,   1913,  withm  about  a  week 

vocabularies  ^^  ^j^^  ^-^^^  ^j^^^  ^^^  writers  con- 

cluded, the  task  of  tallying  the  frequency  of  occur- 
rence of  all  words  in  over  two  hundred  thousand 
running  words  of  correspondence  according  to  a 
method  to  be  described  presently.  Doctor  Ayres  se- 
lected the  first  word  of  each  line  in  two  thousand 
letters  chosen  from  a  variety  of  sources.  In  this 
way  twenty-three  thousand  six  hundred  twenty-nine 
words  were  tallied  out  of  a  total  of  one  hundred  ten 
thousand  one  hundred  sixty.  The  total  number  of 
different  words  and  different  forms  of  words  oc- 
curring one  or  more  times  was  found  to  be  two 
thousand  one.  Of  these,  the  five  hundred  forty- 
two  occurring  six  or  more  times  were  published  in 
the  order  of  their  frequency.    Seven  hundred  fifty- 


♦  Ayres,  The  Spelling  Vocabularies  of  Personal  and  Bust' 
ness  Letters. 


THE   WRITTEN   VOCABULARY      137 

one  of  the  two  thousand  one  occurred  but  a 
single  time.  Although  the  present  study  is  in  sev- 
eral respects  different  from  that  of  Ayres,  his  data 
will  be  used  as  a  check  and  basis  of  comparison 
at  a  number  of  points. 

In  searching  for  a  standard  to  employ  in  esti- 
mating the  writing  vocabularies  of  typical  individu- 

^    ,    ,        als  in  American  life,  and  in  dis- 
How  to  find  the  .  . 

needs  of  the  "com-  covermg  what  words  are   found 

men  people  most  commonly  in  the  written  ex- 

pression of  ordinary  people,  it  was  finally  decided  to 
use  the  family  correspondence  of  a  group  of  adults. 
It  would  be  a  safe  guess,  probably,  to  say  that  most 
of  the  spelling  needs  of  nine-tenths  of  our  people 
relate  to  correspondence  of  a  varied  nature  with 
relatives  and  friends.  Ordinary  business  corre- 
spondence is  attended  to  by  stenographers,  or  is 
almost  a  negligible  quantity  as  far  as  spelling  is 
concerned.  It  is  moreover  of  a  stereotyped  and 
usually  quite  technical  character.  For  every  kind 
of  business  and  for  every  profession  there  are  spe- 
cial needs;  but  in  these  we  are  not  interested,  since 
it  is  spelling  for  the  common  school  that  we  are 
considering.  It  is  likely  that  Ayres'  lists  do  not 
quite  indicate  the  needs  of  most  people,  because  it 
is  probable  that  in  his  study  family  correspondence 
was  neglected,  to  the  exaggeration  of  the  import- 
ance of  business  letters.  Sincerely  shows  a  fre- 
quency of  one  hundred  forty-two,  truly  of  one  hun- 
dred sixty-six,  respectfully  of  sixty-three  and  love 


138    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

of  only  sixteen.  Since  the  average  length  of  the 
letters  examined  was  only  fifty-five  words,  surely 
no  great  proportion  could  have  been  of  a  family 
character,  and  only  a  very  few  could  have  dealt 
with  the  "tender  emotion." 

In  the  present  investigation  it  was  determined 
not  to  include  a  large  amount  of  correspondence 
between  particular  friends,  because  they  often  have 
only  a  single  line  of  interest.  The  vocabulary  of 
such  correspondence  would  therefore  tend  to  be 
highly  specialized.  For  a  like  reason,  the  corre- 
spondence of  immature  persons  has  not  been  used 
in  this  study  to  any  great  extent.  The  child's 
interests  are  not  those  of  an  adult.  Many  of  the 
responsibilities  of  the  latter  are  not  felt  until  one's 
majority  is  reached.  No  doubt  the  framing  of  a 
course  in  spelling  for  elementary  pupils  should  in- 
clude a  number  of  words  which  an  examination  of 
the  spontaneous  compositions  of  children  of  differ- 
ent ages  shows  to  be  useful  in  child  life,  but  which 
plays  only  a  small  part  in  the  average  adult's  con- 
sciousness.   This  matter  is  discussed  fully  later  on. 

But  after  all  it  is  family  letters  that  tend 
more  than  any  other  form  of  correspondence  to  call 
out  a  vocabulary  dealing  with  the  whole  range  of  hu- 
man interests.  Family  correspondence  is  not  open 
to  the  usual  valid  objection  to  composition  tests  of 
spelling,  viz.,  that  the  writer  avoids  some  words, 
the  spelling  of  which  is  uncertain,  and  selects  others 
whose  spelling  is  known.     The  errors  which  the 


THE   WRITTEN    VOCABULARY      139 

investigators  found  in  much  of  the  correspondence 

examined  were  not  calculated  to  betray  reserve  or 

embarrassment  over  spelling.     When  a  word  was 

needed,  the  correspondent  proceeded  to  spell  at  it, 

if  it  were  unfamiliar.     On  the  other  hand,  there 

is  in  adult  family  correspondence  no  endeavor  to 

diversify  one's  vocabulary  for  the  production  of 

special   literary   effects,    such   as    characterizes    all 

writing  for  publication,  and  renders  it  valueless  for 

our  present  purpose. 

In  collecting  the  material  for  investigation,  the 

conclusion  has  been  reached  that  spelling  has  dis- 

_    ,.  ,      .  tinctly  declined  in  importance  in 

Declining  im-  ■'  ... 

portance  of  the  last   generation,   and   is   still 

^^^  *"^  declining.     It  is  entirely  possible 

that  if  the  present  tendency  continues  for  another 
century,  the  spelling  reformers  and  their  opponents 
will  have  only  a  skeleton  to  fight  over.  This  result 
has  followed  from  the  decay  of  letter-writing,  which 
in  turn  is  the  result  of  various  social  changes.  Any 
one  who  will  take  the  pains  to  make  personal  ob- 
servations can  verify  every  point  that  is  made  here- 
after relating  to  the  decay  of  spelling  needs. 

Among  the  conditions  that  have  produced  the 
changes  referred  to  may  be  mentioned  first  the  plen-. 
ti fulness  of  newspapers,  magazines  and  books. 
Books  and  magazines  supply  the  intellectual  stimu^ 
lation  which  the  daily,  weekly  or  monthly  mail  once 
furnished.  Those  who  migrate  to  a  new  home, 
leaving  behind  acquaintances,  friends  and  relatives, 


I40    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPFXLING 

often  have  the  local  paper  follow  them  at  a  nominal 
cost.  Or  if  they  do  not  subscribe,  the  "home- folks" 
bundle  up  the  papers  occasionally  and  forward  them, 
naturally  without  writing,  because  that  would  en- 
tail additional  expense  for  postage.  Those  in  the 
new  home  may  not  send  their  own  local  papers 
regularly  to  the  "home- folks" ;  but  any  items  of 
special  interest  they  clip  out  and  enclose  in  a  letter. 
Or  if  anything  in  the  way  of  a  story  or  witticism 
impresses  them  as  unusually  good,  it  is  cut  out  and 
sent  along  too.  The  clippings  often  constitute  the 
bulk  of  the  letter. 

In  the  second  place,  there  is  vast  improvement 
and  greater  freedom  in  means  of  communication. 
Postal  rates  have  been  lowered,  not  for  first-class 
matter  only,  but  for  all  classes  of  mailable  matter. 
The  use  of  telegraph  and  telephone  is  coming 
within  the  reach  of  more  and  more  people.  With- 
out cost,  or  for  a  few  cents  at  most,  people  can 
telephone  some  distance  across  country  or  from 
town  to  town,  transact  business,  or  reach  decisions 
that  by  correspondence  would  require  several  let- 
ters. Travel  is  increasing  out  of  all  proportion  to 
population.  Annual  vacations,  holiday  rates  and 
all  sorts  of  excursions  are  substituting  visiting  and 
personal  conference  for  letter-writing.  Friends  a 
hundred  miles  or  two  apart  may  not  write  for 
months;  but  once  or  twice  a  year  they  may  come 
together  and  visit  over  their  joys  and  sorrows. 

Again,  the  changing  status  of  women  in  the  home 


THE   WRITTEN   VOCABULARY      141 

and  new  business  methods,  are  shifting  the  burden 
of  letter- writing.  Though  the  mother  was  in  the 
early  days  the  teacher  and  intellectual  leader  of  the 
family,  her  other  responsibilities  were  much  heavier 
than  to-day.  She  no  longer  goes  into  the  fields  to 
work;  much  of  the  family  raiment  is  purchased 
ready-made;  and  more  or  less  of  the  food  is  pre- 
pared outside  of  the  home.  With  these  changes, 
women  have  become  to  some  extent  a  leisure  class. 
They  still  do  most  of  the  reading  and  practically 
all  of  the  writing  for  the  family.  A  rather  ex- 
tensive inquiry  among  friends  and  acquaintances 
has  shown  it  to  be  impossible  to  secure  more  than 
perhaps  one-tenth  as  much  written  matter  in  gen- 
eral from  the  pens  of  men  as  from  those  of  women. 
In  this  inquiry,  households  were  found  where  men, 
perfectly  able  to  write,  do  not,  from  pure  disin- 
clination to  undertake  the  task,  produce  a  letter 
from  one  year's  end  to  the  other.  They  confine 
themselves  to  signing  legal  papers.  Professional 
men,  possibly  from  their  greater  facility  in  expres- 
sion, are  less  derelict  in  this  connection.  Yet  as 
many  of  them  as  can  afford  it  are  known  by  sten- 
ographers to  dictate  much  of  their  most  private 
correspondence  as  well  as  their  business  letters.  In 
these  times  a  scholar  can  write  a  book  without 
doing  any  spelling  himself. 

Lastly,  the  development  of  the  post-card  as  a 
means  of  communication  has  proved  highly  destruc- 
tive of  letter-writing.    Special  cards  are  issued  for 


142    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

Thanksgiving,  Christmas,  New  Year's,  Valentine's 
Day,  St.  Patrick's  Day,  Easter  and  so  on.  At  such 
times  it  is  the  custom  to  "remember  everybody." 
If  the  intervals  are  unduly  long,  the  "remembrance" 
comes  to  hand  in  the  form  of  some  local  view  or 
comic  card.  The  most  novel  and  extreme  form  is 
the  short  letter  already  written  for  the  correspond- 
ent. "Arrived  at  Kalamazoo  on  the  . . .  inst." 
The  writer  fills  in  the  date.  Then  follow  a  number 
of  statements,  such  as  "Like  the  town,"  "Am  well," 
"Having  a  good  time,"  "The  boys  (or  girls)  are 
good-lookers,"  "Remember  me  to  the  rest."  After 
each  statement  is  a  place  for  "Yes"  or  "No,"  or 
check  for  "Yes,"  leaving  the  other  spaces  blank. 

Many  people,  of  course,  are  bound  to  be  seriously 
disturbed  at  any  movement  that  would  tend  to  limit 

No  imminent  dan-    ^  ^'^'"'''^  knowledge  of  spelling 
ger  of_  hampering   to  the  demonstrated  demands  of 
®  ^  ^  those  living  a  generation  ahead  of 

him.  It  will  be  asserted  that  if  the  art  of  written 
expression  is  on  the  decline,  we  should  strive  to 
train  our  children  in  the  opposite  direction,  and 
not  hamper  them  by  reducing  their  writing  vocab- 
ulary. All  such  persons  should  recall  the  fact  that 
the  decline  of  letter-writing  is  traceable  to  social 
factors,  as  has  been  shown.  In  no  sense  has  it 
resulted  from  teaching  the  spelling  of  too  few 
words.  The  truth  of  the  whole  matter  is  that 
every  one  who  has  finished  the  elementary  school 
is  carrying  around  in  his  head  for  years  afterward 


THE    WRITTEN   VOCABULARY      143 

hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  of  words  that  he  never 
writes.  And  is  it  not  possible  that  the  learning  of 
these  words  extracted  from  his  short  school-days 
valuable  time  which  should  have  been  devoted  to 
really  vital  instruction  that  he  failed  to  get  because 
there  was  "not  enough  time"  ?  Moreover,  this  large 
expenditure  of  time  and  energy  in  learning  to  spell 
has  not  apparently  produced  good  spellers.  If  we 
want  good  spelling,  shall  we  not  put  the  pressure 
on  the  most  vital  words,  instead  of  on  the  less  vital, 
or  non-vital  ones? 

Suppose  that  by  a  restriction  of  spelling  lists  a 
child  should  later  find  himself  hampered  with  ref- 
erence to  a  few  words.  They  are  all  in  the  diction- 
aries, pocket  editions  of  which  are  easily  secured. 
Further,  why  can  he  not  learn  to  spell  a  few  words 
after  he  leaves  the  elementary  school?  Why  not 
carry  spelling  through  the  high  school  and  even  the 
university  if  necessary?  As  a  matter  of  fact  all 
intelligent  adults  are  learning  to  spell  every  now  and 
then.  Many  words  commonly  written  to-day  were 
found  twenty  years  ago  in  the  supplement  of  the 
unabridged  dictionary.  It  should  be  remembered 
that  the  business  of  the  common  school  is  to  pre- 
pare children  for  the  life  of  two  decades  hence, 
while  school  texts,  more  especially  spellers,  are  apt 
to  reflect  the  needs  of  many  decades  past. 


CHAPTER  XI 

SOURCES  AND   CHARACTER  OF   DATA 

IT  has  been  the  aim  in  this  investigation  to  study 
individual  needs  rather  than  to  secure  a  com- 
posite of  the  vocabularies  of  many  persons,  so  the 
Sources  of  writers  confined  their  request  for 

the  data  correspondence  to  a  limited  num- 

ber of  persons — thirteen  in  all.  Five  of  these  per- 
sons were  men  and  the  other  eight  were  women. 
Various  degrees  of  academic  training  are  repre- 
sented, ranging  from  schooling  equivalent  to  three, 
grades  of  the  present  elementary  school  perhaps, 
up  to  a  year  of  graduate  work  in  a  state  university. 
Different  sorts  of  interest  and  vocation  are  sam- 
pled in  a  fairly  typical  way.  That  the  correspond- 
ence examined  was  not  local  or  sectional  in  its 
character  may  be  inferred  from  the  statement  that 
it  bore  not  fewer  than  forty  different  postmarks 
from  widely  separated  portions  of  our  own  country 
and  from  some  foreign  lands.  This  variety  of  en- 
vironments should  be  of  assistance  in  gaging  de- 
mands for  the  spelling  of  proper  names,  though 
travel  plays  slightly  too  important  a  part  to  make 
the  letters  truly  typical.     Of  course,  it  is  under- 

144 


SOURCES    OF   DATA  145 

stood  that  no  person  knew  at  the  time  of  writing 
that  any  of  his  work  was  to  be  utilized  in  this  study. 

For  the  sake  of  completeness  and  definiteness, 
the  following  brief  account  is  given  of  each  of  the 
thirteen  persons  at  the  time  they  produced  the  let- 
ters used  by  the  writers : 
'"  S.,  fifty-six  years  of  age,  mother  of  a  family. 
Her  education  was  probably  equivalent  to  the 
course  of  an  ordinary  elementary  school.  She  con- 
tributed twelve  thousand  running  words,  written 
to  her  adult  children  and  their  families. 

P.,  daughter  of  S.,  aged  twenty-seven,  mother  of 
a  family.  Attended  high  school  and  took  one  year 
of  university  work.  A  voluminous  letter-writer, 
accustomed  to  recount  all  the  details  of  family  life. 
Contributed  forty  thousand  running  words,  taken 
from  her  letters  to  her  mother,  husband,  brother 
and  other  near  relatives. 

C,  husband  of  P.,  aged  thirty.  Had  high-school 
education  and  completed  a  technical  course  at  the 
university,  now  a  civil  engineer  managing  a  factory. 
Contributed  five  thousand  running  words,  taken  in 
about  equal  portions  from  letters  to  his  wife  and 
her  relatives  on  the  occasion  of  a  trip  to  California. 

W.,  son  of  S.,  brother  of  P.,  aged  twenty  to 
twenty-five.  Graduate  in  state  university,  teacher 
in  public  high  school.  Contributed  forty  thousand 
running  words,  written  to  his  wife  mainly  before, 
but  in  part  after,  marriage. 

H.,  wife  of  W.,  aged  nineteen  to  twenty-four. 


146    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

graduate  of  elementary  school.  Contributed  forty 
thousand  running  words,  written  to  W.  mainly  be- 
fore, but  in  part  after,  marriage, 

E.,  sister  of  H.,  aged  twenty-seven,  graduate  of 
elementary  school.  Bookkeeper  and  stenographer. 
Contributed  five  thousand  running  words,  written 
to  her  mother  and  sister, 

N.,  mother  of  H.  and  E.,  aged  sixty- four.  Had 
meager  educational  opportunities.  She  says  she 
never  finished  the  third  reader.  Contributed  five 
thousand  words,,  written  to  her  daughters, 

A.,  aged  sixty,  mother  of  a  family.  Attended 
the  academy  of  an  earlier  day,  then  spent  three 
years  in  a  seminary  of  good  standing,  afterward 
taught  for  several  years.  Contributed  twenty- four 
thousand  words,  written  to  her  sisters  from  her 
Connecticut  home,  later  from  England,  France  and 
Germany. 

G.,  aged  twenty-five,  postgraduate  in  classical 
languages  in  state  university  of  Middle  West. 
Teacher  in  girls'  private  school.  Contributed  five 
thousand  words,  written  to  her  mother,  mostly  with 
regard  to  social  life  and  personal  matters  outside 
of  school. 

O.,  aged  eighteen,  high-school  graduate,  from 
a  home  of  unusual  intellectual  and  social  opportuni- 
ties and  stimulation.  Contributed  eight  thousand 
words,  written  to  her  parents  while  at  home  and 
away  from  home. 

J,,  aged  about  forty,  lawyer  and  public  man  in 


SOURCES    OF   DATA  147 

a  small  city.  Graduated  from  state  normal  school, 
and  spent  two  years  in  law  school.  Contributed 
six  thousand  words,  written  to  a  public-school  su- 
perintendent, on  whose  board  J.  once  served.  The 
letters  were  written  before  and  after  the  two  men 
had  severed  their  official  connections. 

M.,  aged  about  twenty-three,  graduate  of  state 
normal  school,  spent  one  year  tutoring  at  Washing- 
ton, then  became  principal  of  a  city  elementary 
school.  Contributed  five  thousand  words,  written 
while  serving  in  the  two  capacities  above  named. 
They  were  addressed  to  an  older  brother,  also  a 
teacher,  but  contained  little  "shop  talk." 

B.,  aged  twenty-eight,  spent  two  years  in  high 
school,  and  then  took  a  course  in  the  business  col- 
lege, is  now  a  bookkeeper  and  stenographer  in  a 
wholesale  grocery  house.  Contributed  five  thou- 
sand words,  addressed  to  a  brother,  along  business 
and  personal  lines. 

Another  kind  of  material  utilized  in  this  investi- 
gation came  from  three  spelling-books  described 
below.  Their  vocabularies  were  arranged  alpha- 
betically that  they  might  be  checked  up  with  the 
vocabularies  of  the  correspondents,  and  with  one 
another,  in  order  to  discover  the  underlying  prin- 
ciple, if  any  were  followed,  in  the  selection  of  ma- 
terials for  the  spelling  text-books  of  to-day,  and 
to  test  readily  the  validity  of  such  principles  by 
the  concrete  material  derived  from  the  correspond- 
ence.   Two  of  these  spelling  texts  appeared  in  1908, 


148    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

and  one  in  191 2.  They  are  published  by  two  lead- 
ing text-book  companies,  and  one  of  the  books 
might,  perhaps,  be  considered  the  most-used  ele- 
mentary spelling-book  in  the  country.  These  three 
texts  were  chosen  because  it  was  believed  that  they 
exemplified  the  better,  not  the  poorer,  attempts  in 
modem  text-book  construction.  They  will  here- 
after be  referred  to  as  Spellers  A,  B  and  C. 

Speller  A  is  divided  into  two  books,  giving  work 
stated  to  be  for  grades  III-VIII  inclusive.  "A 
large  number  of  English  words  that  present  no  diffi- 
culty  have  been  excluded"    (Preface).     The 

publishers  make  the  following  claim  for  this  book : 
"Only  those  words  have  been  admitted  which  be- 
long to  the  writing  vocabulary  of  the  average  per- 
son. The  many  words  that  are  known  in  reading, 
but  that  are  seldom  if  ever  used  by  the  average  man 
in  writing,  have  been  excluded.  Words  that  pre- 
sent no  spelling  difficulty  and  need  no  study  have 
also  been  omitted." 

Speller  B  is  divided  into  seven  books.  Just  how 
it  is  intended  that  the  work  of  these  should  be  ad- 
justed to  the  eight  grades  is  not  stated ;  perhaps  the 
most  reasonable  assumption  is  that  no  book  is  allot- 
ted to  Grade  I.  The  feature  of  this  book  is  the  use 
in  adjacent  sentences  of  the  words  presented   in 

the  column  lessons.     " About  six  thousand 

words,  not  counting  different  forms  of  verbs  and 
nouns,  are  thus  presented  in  use.  Excepting  a  few 
of  the  most  simple  words  used  in  Books  I  and  II, 


SOURCES   OF   DATA  149 

no  word  is  used  in  a  sentence  before  it  is  given  in 

the  column About  six  thousand  more  words, 

classified  as  'additional'  and  'less  common'  words 

are  given  in  columns  following  the  regular 

sentence  presentation"   (Preface). 

Speller  C  outlines  work  for  the  entire  elementary- 
course,  except  the  first  half  of  the  first  year.  A 
large  number  of  dictation  and  completion  exercises 
are  presented.  Many  of  the  former  are  selected 
from  literary  masterpieces,  and  contain  large  num- 
bers of  more  or  less  uncommon  words.  A  state- 
ment made  in  the  introduction  as  to  not  requiring 
pupils  to  learn  uncommon  words  evidently  meant 
that  any  unusual  literary  names  (those  applied  to 
literary  characters,  not  the  names  of  the  authors 
themselves)  should  be  omitted.  Everything  save 
directions  to  pupils  has  been  included  in  cal- 
culating the  vocabulary  of  this  text.  However, 
in  the  case  of  word-building  exercises,  the  words 
actually  found  in  the  book,  and  not  those  built  by 
the  pupil,  have  been  taken  into  account.  The 
French  and  Latin  words  and  phrases  are  marked 
in  the  text,  "For  reference  only." 

Test  lists  used  in  different  parts  of  the  country 
on  important  spelling  occasions  would  not  be  of 
No  consideration  much  value  in  this  investigation. 
of  test  lists  jf  judged  by  the  criterion  of  their 

frequency  of  use  in  after  life,  they  would  be  found 
wanting.  However,  one  must  not  forget  that  the 
purpose  of  these  competitions  is  not  normally  to 


I50    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

teach  pupils  how  to  spell,  but  to  make  them  fail 
to  spell,  so  that  the  question. of  personal  superiority 
can  be  settled.  Hence  it  is  to  be  expected  that 
comparatively  rare  words  must  be  drawn  in  very 
largely  before  a  decision  can  be  reached.  No  one 
can  doubt,  though,  that  special  test  lists  for  every- 
day purposes  in  the  regular  school  work  should  be 
graded  carefully,  that  they  should  consist  of  words 
that  people  often  use,  and  that  a  pupil's  promotion 
in  spelling  should  depend  on  his  capacity  for  spell- 
ing words  that  he  is  later  to  use  in  expressing  him- 
self. 

In  the  arrangement  of  vocabularies  in  this  in- 
vestigation, several  rules  of  procedure  have  been 
Rules  of  l^^pt   in  mind,   and    followed   as 

procedure  consistently  as  possible.     First  of 

all,  the  dictionary  basis  has  been  adhered  to.  This 
has  resulted  in  the  appearance  in  every  list  of  nouns 
in  the  singular  number  and  nominative  case  only, 
though  a  few  plurals  appear  in  cases  where  the 
plural  is  the  form  habitually  employed.  The  sin- 
gular of  no  such  word  is  then  permitted  in  the  list. 
The  same  policy  is  followed  relative  to  another 
group  of  words,  such  as  news,  afterwards,  besides, 
etc.  But  the  various  forms  of  the  personal  pro- 
nouns are  so  highly  disparate  that  all  variant  forms 
are  included,  except  ours,  you/rs  and  theirs.  Like- 
wise only  the  positive  degree  of  adjectives  is  in- 
cluded, except  that  the  comparative  or  superlative 
occurs  for  the  few  which  lack  a  positive  form.    So 


SOURCES   OF   DATA  151 

also  of  verbs;  the  present  infinitive  is  considered 
the  root  form.  To  illustrate,  for  the  verb  to  be, 
the  forms,  is,  are,  was,  were,  being,  been,  are  al- 
ways checked  as  be.  The  justification  for  such 
procedure  is,  first,  that  it  simplifies  the  problem; 
and,  second,  that  an  individual  who  has  any  real 
use  for  a  root  word  will  doubtless  have  also  a  real 
use  for  its  inflected  forms,  though  of  course  some 
of  the  derivatives  may  have  a  very  different  fre- 
quency of  use  from  the  root  word  itself. 

In  the  second  place,  words  of  identical  spelling 
and  like  pronunciation  are  not  differentiated  in  the 
lists.  For  instance,  might  is  always  referred  to 
may,  whether  it  be  the  past  tense  of  the  latter, 
or  the  noun  meaning  power  or  strength.  As  far  as 
dealing  with  the  lists  in  spelling  texts  goes,  it  is 
impossible  to  tell,  when  we  see  might  in  a  column, 
whether  it  is  a  noun  or  a  verb.  Hence  we  need  to 
act  similarly  in  dealing  with  correspondence.  And 
while  from  some  points  of  view  it  would  perhaps 
be  desirable  to  know  whether  in  spelling  we  should 
stress  might  as  a  noun  or  as  a  verb,  it  is  probable 
that  as  long  as  the  phonic  elements  are  the  same,  if 
the  child  learns  to  spell  the  word  merely  as  one 
part  of  speech,  he  will  spell  it  correctly  in  its  other 
forms,  barring  a  homonymic  interference.  Many 
simple  words,  like  hoe  (noun  and  verb),  pin  (noun 
and  verb),  etc.,  come  under  the  principle  just  men- 
tioned. 

In  the  third  place,  words  of  identical  spelling  but 


152    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

dissimilar  pronunciation  are  included  but  once. 
This,  too,  was  necessitated  by  the  fact  that  words 
like  grease  and  canon  do  not  always  have  their  pro- 
nunciation indicated  in  the  columns  of  the  spelling- 
book.  Difficulty  with  or  confusion  in  the  use  of 
such  words  can  be  obviated  by  teaching  them  with 
both  their  meanings  and  their  appropriate  pronun- 
ciations. This  need  not  often  involve  the  teaching 
of  an  uncommon  word,  or  a  common  word  with 
an  uncommon  signification,  unless  the  teacher  is 
injudicious  enough  to  go  outside  his  own  reading 
vocabulary. 

/,  a  and  o  have  been  excluded  from  consideration, 
for  while  they  are  technically  words,  they  are  also 
mere  letters,  and  the  question  of  spelling  obviously 
does  not  enter  in.  All  syncopations  are  entered  as 
though  written  in  full,  except  the  single  one, 
o'clock,  which  is  standard  and  preferable  to  the 
full  form  on  all  occasions.  A  few  of  the  more 
common  apostrophized  forms  would  have  been  in- 
cluded, had  it  been  possible  to  tell  where  to  stop; 
but  I'll  leads  on  to  I'd,  and  you'd,  and  finally 
Zi*ho'd,  so  all  such  forms  were  regarded  as  if  the 
words  had  been  written  in  full.  In  dealing  with 
the  correspondence,  all  abbreviations  are  treated  as 
if  written  in  full,  except  Mr.,  Mrs.,  etc.  and  O.  K., 
and  the  initials  of  persons.  These  latter  are  totally 
disregarded.  The  reason  is  that  aside  from  o'clock, 
and  the  abbreviations  just  mentioned,  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  spelling  of  a  word  may  be  presumed 


SOURCES   OF   DATA  153 

to  have  preceded  the  knowledge  of  its  abbreviation, 
and  for  the  additional  reason,  that  the  abbrevia- 
tion in  all  except  the  most  familiar  correspondence 
is  not  yet  recognized  as  good  form.  Baby  talk 
is  excluded,  but  large  numbers  of  colloquial  ex- 
pressions, if  justified  by  the  dictionary,  are  in- 
cluded. The  Standard  Dictionary  has  been  used 
in  determining  the  eligibility  of  such  words. 

Some  arbitrary  standard  had  to  be  recognized 
in  the  treatment  of  numbers,  so  it  was  decided  to 
exclude  from  consideration  all  dates,  all  street 
numbers,  all  quantities  of  money  expressed  in  deci- 
mal fashion,  all  hours  of  the  day  when  in  the 
standard  form  (e.g.,  5:45),  all  numbers  over  one 
hundred,  except  round  numbers  like  a  thousand, 
ten  thousand,  or  a  million.  Such  a  course  seems 
advisable,  because  the  exemptions  made  are  properly 
expressed  by  figures. 

All  words  with  hyphens  have  been  considered  as 
two  words.  Foreign  words  and  expressions  scarcely 
naturalized  have  been  kept  in  a  segregated  list  in 
the  examination  of  both  spelling  texts  and  corre- 
spondence. Proper  names  of  every  sort  have  also 
been  segregated  into  a  special  list.  They  are  noted 
as  to  frequency  in  all  the  correspondence,  but  not 
considered  a  part  of  the  vocabulary  of  any  person, 
since  changing  associations  in  the  local  environment 
will  constantly  introduce  new  names.  Consequently 
proper  terms  are  skipped  in  counting  off  the  two 
hundred  thousand  words  of  correspondence.  Words 


154    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

which  become  proper  names  only  in  specific  connec- 
tions, as  seen  in  the  expressions,  Kansas  City,  or 
Franklin  Street,  and  even  there  retain  their  general 
significance,  are  not  considered  as  proper  names. 

The  vocabulary  found  in  the  correspondence  of 
each  person  has  been  kept  entirely  separate  from 
The  arrangement  everything  else,  so  that,  as  ex- 
of  words  plained    above,    we    might    gain 

some  view  of  the  extent  of  individual  needs,  and, 
what  is  still  more  important  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  public  school,  we  might  examine  the 
general  agreement  or  community  of  needs. 
Though  the  frequency  of  each  word  is  given  in  the 
lists  of  this  study,  the  words  are  not  arranged  ac- 
cording to  frequency  because,  in  the  first  place,  if 
one  examines  a  "frequency"  list  one  finds  it  diffi- 
cult to  tell  whether  a  particular  word  is  present, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  probability  of  clerical  mis- 
takes leading  to  duplications.  With  Ayres'  list  no 
doubt  extraordinary  care  was  exercised,  yet  in  the 
published  portions  at  least  three  words  are  repeated, 
which  alters  more  or  less  seriously  their  position 
in  the  list.  Second,  a  word  which  has  a  given  fre- 
quency and  is  universally  used  should  be  given  a 
more  prominent  position  in  the  list  than  one  which 
occurs  somewhat  more  frequently  but  serves  only 
three-fourths  as  many  persons,  showing  that  its  idea 
is  less  universalized  or  permits  of  ready  expression 
in  other  ways.  In  the  present  study,  the  word 
big  has  almost  exactly  twice  the  frequency  of  busy, 


SOURCES    OF    DATA  155 

yet  It  does  not  occur  in  the  letters  of  two  of  the 
thirteen  correspondents,  because  its  idea  can  be  ex- 
pressed by  large.  Neither  of  these  two  persons  is 
among  the  three  who  fail  to  use  large.  But  busy, 
for  which  no  ready  substitute  seems  to  be  offered, 
is  employed  by  every  subject.  Illustrations  could 
be  multiplied  ad  libitum.  Third,  where  the  corre- 
spondence of  a  limited  number  of  persons  is  studied 
in  detail,  as  in  the  present  case,  the  prominence 
given  to  a  somewhat  unusual  word  by  two  or  even 
one  of  the  subjects  might  place  it  in  an  entirely 
false  light  if  frequency  were  the  basis  of  arrange- 
ment. 


CHAPTER  XII 

WORD  LISTS  DERIVED  FROM   CORRESPONDENCE 

THE  plan  followed  in  tabulating  the  data  of 
this  investigation  has  been  to  divide  the  total 
vocabulary  of  the  thirteen  correspondents  into  four 
The  method  of  alphabetical  lists.  List  I  con- 
classifying  data  tains  words  used  by  all  the  corre- 
spondents; List  II,  those  used  by  a  majority  of 
them;  List  III,  those  used  by  more  than  one  but 
less  than  a  majority;  List  IV,  those  used  by  one 
writer  only.  Immediately  after  each  word  is  placed 
its  frequency  in  the  two  hundred  thousand  nmning 
words.  In  the  third  column  is  noted  how  many 
of  the  three  spelling-books.  A,  B  and  C,  contain 
it.  In  the  fourth  column  stands  the  list  in  which 
the  given  word  comes  if  only  the  women  corre- 
spondents be  considered.  In  the  fifth  column  the 
same  information  is  given  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  men  correspondents.  All  vacant  spaces  in  Col- 
umns III,  IV  and  V  signify  non-occurrence.  In 
Column  VI  the  letters  A  and  C  indicate  respectively 
whether  found  in  Ayres'  published  list  of  the  five 
hundred  forty-two  most  frequent  words,  or  in  Chan- 
cellor's list  of  the  thousand  most  common  words 

156 


WORD    LISTS  157 

in  every-day  use.  Columns  IV  and  V  are  omitted 
in  List  I,  since  they  would  be  simply  a  succession 
of  I's. 

LIST  I 

186   WORDS WORDS   USED   BY  ALL  THE   CORRE- 
SPONDENTS _ 

M.  o     I                                            "■  "I  IV 

about 889  2  AC 

after 365  2  AC 

afternoon 389  2  A 

again 256  3  AC 

all 1369  2  A 

almost 153  3  C 

also 166  3  A 

an 346  1  AC 

and 8252  2  AC 

another 166  2  A 

any 630  2  AC 

around 143  2  C 

as 1368  1  A 

ask 186  2  A 

at 1240  1  A 

away 193  2  A 

back 299  2  AC 

be .....9711  2  AC 

before 361  2  AC 

boy 171  2  AC 

build 89  3  AC 

busy 71  3  AC 

but 1771  2  AC 

by 439  2  A 

can 1190  3  AC 

cannot 392  1 

church 159  2  A 

come 946  2  AC 

course 202  3  A 

day 916  2  AC 

dear 481  2  AC 

do 2498  3  AC 

down 384  2  AC 

enough 158  3  A 

even 360  2  AC 

ever 222  2  AC 


158    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 
I  II  III        IV 

every 232 

far 96 

feel 473 

few 166 

find 217 

first 237 

for 2263 

four 172 

friend 90 

from 895 

get 1667 

give ' 309 

glad 235 

go 1981 

good 837 

guess 128 

have 4562 

he -. 1166 

hear 279 

help 224 

her 1061 

here : 613 

him 459 

his 441 

home 496 

hope 259 

hour 170 

house 367 

how 433 

if 1050 

in 2511 

it 3607 

just 763 

keep 205 

know 790 

last 631 

late 102 

leave 348 

let 208 

letter 800 

like 653 

little 778 

live 117 

long 279 

look 386 

make 633 

man 206 

many 314 


3 

C 

2 

C 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

A 

1 

A 

3 

AC 

3 

AC 

1 

A 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

1 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

3 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

A 

1 

AC 

1 

A 

2 

A 

3 

AC 

3 

A 

3 

AC 

2 

AC 

1 

AC 

A 

2 

A 

2 

A 

3 

AC 

3 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

2 

AC 

2 

A 

3 

AC 

2 

AC 

? 

AC 

WORD   LISTS  159 

I  II  III       IV 

me 1377 

mine 67 

morning 478 

much 947 

must 399 

my 1457 

need 114 

never 247 

new 220 

next 302 

nice 198 

night 547 

no 335 

not 2878 

nothing 71 

now 489 

of 3252 

off 175 

old 294 

on 1175 

one 1117 

only 419 

or 680 

other 344 

ought 97 

out 703 

over 427 

own 176 

part 109 

pay 168 

people 160 

place 217 

pretty 249 

put 254 

quite 159 

rest 125 

right 242 

run 101 

same 110 

say 906 

see 789 

seven 66 

several 56 

she 1542 

show 71 

six 124 

so 1729 

8ome 750 


1 

AC 

2 

C 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

1 

AC 

2 

A 

3 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

1 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

1 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

1 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

AC 

1 

A 

2 

AC 

3 

C 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

C 

2 

AC 

3 

AC 

3 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

A 

2 

AC 

3 

AC 

1 

C 

3 

AC 

2 

C 

1 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

AC 

3 

C 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

AC 

2 

C 

1 

AC 

2 

AC 

i6o    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

I  II 

Boon 196 

spend 103 

start 143 

such 224 

suppose 164 

sure 179 

take 635 

talk 149 

tell 669 

than 321 

that 2614 

the 7606 

their 210 

them 636 

then 456 

there 862 

they 925 

thing 414 

think 1178 

this 1236 

though 148 

three 251 

through 160 

time 893 

to 7553 

too 408 

town 165 

train 148 

try 199 

two 601 

up 782 

us 368 

use 160 

very 644 

visit 102 

want 643 

way 271 

we 2218 

week 605 

well 672 

what 479 

when 766 

where 162 

which 256 

while 204 

will 3068 

wish 262 

with 1314 


[II 

IV 

2 

AC 

2 

C 

2 

A 

2 

A 

2 

3 

A 

2 

AC 

3 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

1 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

A 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

A 

2 

C 

3 

AC 

3 

AC 

3 

AC 

1 

AC 

2 

A 

3 

AC 

3 

AC 

3 

A 

2 

A 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

3 

AC 

3 

A 

3 

AC 

2 

A 

2 

AC 

Ill 

IV 

3 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

AC 

2 

C 

1 

AC 

2 

AC 

WORD   LISTS  i6i 

I  II 

write 867 

year 254 

yesterday 317 

yet 180 

you 4099 

your 1117 

LIST  II 

577  WORDS — WORDS   USED   BY  A    MAJORITY  OF  THE 

CORRESPONDENTS 

I                                 II             III  IV  i'  V         VI 

able , 100             2  II  I             C 

above 25              2  III  I 

accept 12             3  III  I             A 

account 31              2  II  I             A 

across 38              3  II  I             C 

act 27              2  III  II             C 

add 15              2  III  I             C 

address 35              3  II  II             A 

advantage 15              2  III  I 

afraid 79              3  II  IV             C 

afterward 12              1  II  II 

against 25              2  III  II             C 

age 32              2  II  II 

ago 81              1  II  I             A 

ahead 23              2  II  II 

air 21              2  II  II 

allow 18              3  II  III             A 

alone 43              3  II  III             A 

along 91               1  I  II 

already 45              2  II  II             C 

always 153              3  II  II          AC 

among 23              3  II  II          AC 

amount 28               2  II  II 

answer , 108               3  II  II              A 

anxious 29              3  II  III 

anything 190              1  I  II             A 

anyway 33  11  III 

appreciate 17              2  III  II             A 

arrive 75              2  II  I             A 

asleep 20              3  II  IV 

attempt 13              1  II  III 

attend 42              2  III  I             A 

aunt 170              3  I  II             C 

automobile 47             8  II  III 


/Jl.-I 


i62     THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I  II 

avenue 32 

awful 91 

awfully 26 

baby 39 

bad 244 

badly 23 

bank 30 

basket 16 

bath 35 

beat 36 

beautiful 67 

because 263 

become 36 

bed 170 

begin 97 

believe 168 

beside 48 

between 40 

big 141 

bill 38 

birthday 31 

bite 67 

black 32 

blame 12 

block 33 

blood 18 

blow 21 

blue 43 

board 125 

body 15 

book 104 

both 140 

bottle 12 

bottom 12 

box 95 

bread 30 

break 45 

breakfast 62 

bring 91 

brother 74 

brown 21 

burn 28 

business 99 

butter 22 

buy 122 

cake 39 

caU 151 

car 77 


[II         IV            V 

VI 

2            11 

III 

3            I 

III 
III 

2            I 

III 

AC 

2             I 

AC 

1             I 

II 

C 

2            I 

II 

C 

3            I 

III 

2            I 

III 

3           II 

II 

C 

3            I 

II 

2 

II 

A 

1            I 

II 

A 

2 

II 

AC 

2            I 

II 

AC 

3            I 

II 

AC 

2            I 

III 

3            I 

2            I 

II 

C 

2            I 

III 

C 

2 

IV 

2             I 

II 

2             I 

IV 

C 

2             I 

III 

C 

2             I 

II 

2             I 

III 

C 

2             I 

III 

C 

2             I 

III 

C 

3             I 

II 

AC 

1             I 

III 

C 

2             I 

II 

AC 

2             I 

A 

3             I 

3           II 

II 

2 

II 

A 

3            I 

IV 

C 

8 

II 

C 

8 

III 

c 

2            I 

II 

c 

3            I 

II 

2            I 

III 

c 

2            I 

III 

2            I 

AC 

1            I 

IV 

C 

3            I 

C 

2            I 

IV 

2 

II 

A 

1            I] 

[        II 

C 

WORD   LISTS  163 


I  II 

card 95 

care 119 

careful 25 

carry 47 

case 27 

catch 38 

cause 25 

cent 118 

certain 20 

certainly 71 

chair 36 

chance 39 

change 86 

charge 29 

cheap 22 

cheese 11 

chicken 25 

child 160 

chop 11 

city... 77 

class 74 

clean 117 

clear 60 

clock 10 

close 129 

cloth 18 

clothe 70 

coat 46 

coffee 24 

cold 167 

color 26 

comfort 16 

comfortable 14 

common 15 

company 69 

compare 13 

concern 11 

condition 21 

continue 11 

cook 36 

cool 41 

copy 19 

com 15 

cost 78 

count 24 

country 36 

couple 37 

cover 85 


III 

IV 

V 

VI 

2 

I 

II 

A 

2 

II 

II 

C 

3 

II 

II 

2 

II 

II 

C 

2 

II 

II 

A 

3 

II 

II 

C 

3 

II 

II 

AC 

3 

II 

n 

AC 

3 

III 

II 

A 

2 

II 

II 

2 

II 

II 

C 

2 

II 

II 

2 

II 

I 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

3 

II 

III 

3 

II 

IV 

2 

II 

IV 

C 

3 

II 

II 

AC 

2 

II 

III 

2 

II 

I 

A 

2 

II 

I 

A 

2 

I 

II 

C 

2 

II 

III 

C 

2 

II 

III 

2 

II 

I 

C 

3 

II 

2 

I 

III 

C 

2 

II 

II 

3 

III 

II 

2 

I 

II 

AC 

3 

II 

II 

C 

3 

II 

III 

2 

II 

III 

C 

2 

III 

II 

C 

3 

I 

II 

A 

1 

II 

II 

3 

III 

II 

2 

II 

II 

3 

III 

II 

2 

II 

C 

2 

II 

III 

3 

III 

II 

A 

2 

II 

III 

C 

2 

II 

II 

AC 

2 

II 

III 

C 

3 

II 

I 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

2 

II 

II 

A 

i64    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I  II  III 

crazy 29 

cross 27  2 

cup 12  2 

cure 13  2 

cut 81  2 

dance 38  2 

dark 36  2 

date 24  2 

daughter 12  3 

dead 24  3 

deal 63  2 

death 27  2 

decide 65  3 

degree 11  2 

die 27  3 

difference 19  2 

different 45  2 

dinner 182  2 

direct . 13  2 

disappoint 34  3 

dish 31  2 

divide 9  3 

doctor 152  3 

dollar 37  2 

door 63  2 

doubt 22  3 

dress 174  2 

drive 39  2 

drop 31  2 

dry. 33  2 

during 47  1 

dust 29  2 

duty 24  3 

each 93  3 

early 65  3 

earth 10  2 

eat 126  2 

effect . 13  2 

eight 66  3 

either 62  2 

electric 10  2 

eleven 31  3 

else 67  3 

enclose 30  2 

end 67  2 

enjoy 107  2 

equal 14  3 

especially 87  1 


IV 


VI 


WORD   LISTS  165 

I  II  III         IV  V         VI 

everybody 37 

everything 105 

examination 26 

except 78 

excuse 15 

expect 147 

expense 19 

experience 13 

express 20 

extra 33 

eye 66 

face 68 

fact 40 

fail 23 

fair 35 

fall 68 

family 84 

fast 35 

fat 15 

father 87 

fear 20 

fellow 63 

fifteen 40 

fifty 30 

fight 16 

fill 38 

fine 170 

finish 150 

fire 61 

fit 33 

five 161 

fix 47 

flat 21 

floor 42 

folk 167 

follow 28 

foot 68 

forenoon 123 

forget 75 

fourth 16 

free 27 

front 37 

full 51 

fun 28 

funny 31 

further 22 

game 64 

gate 13 


2 

II 

II 

II 

I 

1 

III 

II 

A 

2 

II 

II 

3 

II 

III 

3 

I 

II 

A 

3 

III 

II 

A 

2 

II 

II 

A 

2 

II 

III 

2 

II 

II 

2 

II 

II 

C 

2 

II 

II 

C 

1 

III 

I 

C 

3 

III 

II 

C 

3 

II 

II 

C 

2 

II 

II 

C 

3 

II 

II 

C 

2 

II 

III 

1 

II 

IV 

2 

II 

III 

AC 

2 

II 

III 

C 

2 

II 

I 

c 

3 

II 

III 

2 

III 

II 

c 

3 

III 

I 

c 

2 

I 

III 

A 

2 

I 

II 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

3 

II 

III 

2 

II 

II 

2 

I 

II 

c 

1 

II 

II 

c 

2 

II 

II 

2 

II 

II 

c 

2 

II 

II 

2 

III 

I 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

c 

2 

II 

III 

2 

II 

II 

1 

III 

I 

2 

III 

II 

c 

2 

11 

II 

c 

2 

II 

I 

2 

II 

III 

2 

II 

II 

3 

III 

II 

A 

2 

I 

III 

C 

3 

III 

II 

i66    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

I  II            III         IV            V         VI 

gather 12 

general 11 

girl 410 

glass 26 

grade 24 

grand 22 

great 168 

green 29 

grind 33 

grip 13 

grow 38 

hair 46 

half 120 

hall 24 

hand 90 

hang 43 

happen 45 

happy 92 

hard 186 

hardly 65 

hat 45 

hate 18 

head 74 

health 13 

heart 51 

heat 27 

heavy 38 

herself 36 

high 101 

himself 28 

hold 72 

hole 17 

horse 21 

hot 81 

hotel 52 

however 37 

hurry 36 

hurt 60 

idea 28 

imagine 62 

impossible 17 

improve 17 

inside 16 

insist 17 

instead 50 

intend 44 

interest 68 

into 125 


2 

II 

III 

c 

3 

III 

II 

AC 

2 

I 

II 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

AC 

2 

III 

II 

2 

II 

II 

C 

3 

II 

I 

AC 

2 

II 

III 

C 

2 

II 

II 

C 

1 

II 

IV 

3 

II 

II 

c 

3 

II 

IV 

c 

3 

II 

II 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

C 

2 

II 

I 

AC 

2 

II 

III 

2 

II 

II 

C 

2 

II 

II 

C 

2 

I 

II 

AC 

1 

II 

II 

2 

II 

III 

AC 

1 

II 

II 

C 

3 

I 

III 

c 

3 

II 

III 

3 

III 

II 

c 

2 

III 

II 

c 

3 

II 

II 

c 

1 

II 

II 

2 

II 

I 

c 

2 

II 

II 

1 

II 

II 

A 

2 

II 

II 

3 

II 

II 

C 

2 

II 

III 

C 

2 

II 

II 

1 

III 

II 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

2 

II 

III 

C 

2 

II 

II 

3 

11 

II 

2 

III 

II 

A 

3 

II 

II 

2 

II 

II 

C 

2 

III 

II 

2 

II 

II 

A 

2 

II 

II 

A 

2 

II 

I 

A 

2 

II 

I 

C 

.WORD .  LISTS  167 

I  II  III         IV            V        VI 

invite 64  2 

iron 71  3 

job 60 

join 13  1 

Idd 47  1 

kill 13  3 

kind 100  2 

kiss 84  2 

kitchen 38  2 

lady 65  2 

land 23  2 

large 65  2 

lately 10 

learn 56  3 

lesson 17  2 

library 11  3 

life 70  3 

light 52  3 

line 82  2 

listen 11  3 

lose 52  2 

lot 162  1 

love 626  3 

lovely 47  1 

low 32  2 

lunch 43  2 

machine 15  3 

mail 105  3 

manage 23  3 

matter 56  2 

may 288  3 

maybe 64 

meal 23  3 

mean 106  3 

meet 173  3 

mention 33  3 

mighty 21  1 

mile 65  2 

mind 83  1 

minute 79  3 

miss 45  2 

moment 16  2 

money 98  3 

month 124  2 

mother 275  2 

move 78  2 

music 22  3 

myself 80  1 


II 

II 

c 

II 

III 

c 

II 

II 

II 

III 

II 

II 

II 

IV 

II 

I 

AC 

II 

III 

II 

III 

C 

II 

II 

A 

III 

II 

AC 

II 

II 

AC 

III 

II 

II 

II 

C 

II 
III 

III 
II 

A 

II 

I 

C 

II 

II 

C 

II 

I 

AC 

III 

II 

II 

II 

I 

II 

C 

I 

II 

AC 

I 

II 

III 

C 

II 

II 

II 

II 

C 

II 

III 

A 

III 

II 

II 

II 

AC 

II 

II 

AC 

II 

IV 

III 

II 

II 

I 

AC 

II 

II 

AC 

III 

I 

A 

II 

II 

II 

II 

C 

II 

II 

I 

II 

C 

II 

II 

III 

II 

C 

II 

I 

AC 

I 

II 

AC 

I 

II 

AC 

II 

II 

AC 

III 

II 

I 

II 

i68    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I  II 

name 52 

nature 10 

near 54 

nearly 38 

necessary 32 

neck 48 

neither 12 

nerve 11 

nine 58 

noise 11 

none 33 

noon 76 

north 132 

note 36 

notice 22 

number 55 

o'clock 162 

offer 27 

office 72 

often 70 

oh 54 

once 96 

open 55 

order 63 

otherwise 16 

our 401 

ourselves 26 

outside , . .  12 

owe 22 

pa 137 

pack 80 

package 20 

paint 9 

paper 105 

park 82 

parlor 30 

party 47 

pass 60 

past 53 

pen 17 

per 38 

perhaps 110 

person 34 

piano 18 

pick 17 

picture 95 

pie 30 

piece 62 


III 

IV 

V 

VI 

2 

II 

I 

A 

2 

III 

I 

c 

2 

II 

I 

c 

1 

II 

II 

3 

III 

I 

A 

2 

II 

III 

C 

3 

III 

II 

3 

III 

II 

2 

II 

II 

C 

8 

II 

III 

C 

2 

II 

11 

AC 

2 

I 

II 

C 

2 

II 

II 

2 

II 

I 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

2 

II 

II 

AC 

2 

I 

II 

A 

3 

II 

II 

AC 

3 

II 

I 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

C 

1 

II 

II 

3 

I 

II 

A 

2 

II 

II 

AC 

2 

II 

I 

,  AC 

III 

II 

2 

II 

I 

AC 

1 

II 

III 

1 

II 

III 

C 

3 

II 

II 

III 

II 

2 

II 

III 

2 

II 

IV 

3 

III 

II 

c 

2 

II 

II 

AC 

1 

III 

II 

3 

II 

III 

2 

II 

II 

2 

II 

I 

A 

2 

II 

I 

C 

2 

II 

III 

c 

III 

II 

3 

II 

II 

A 

2 

II 

III 

AC 

8 

III 

II 

2 

II 

III 

3 

II 

III 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

C 

3 

II 

II 

C 

WORD   LISTS 


169 


I  II 

pUlow 28 

pin 18 

plan 70 

play 172 

pleasant 61 

please 89 

plenty 21 

point 18 

poor 84 

porch 27 

possible 48 

post 29 

postscript 57 

potato 33 

power 8 

prepare 18 

present 60 

price 43 

probably 85 

professor 13 

promise 33 

pull 30 

quarter 25 

question 62 

quick 17 

quiet 26 

quit 36 

rain 104 

raise 22 

rather 101 

reach 64 

read 179 

ready 100 

real 69 

realize 28 

really 79 

reason 46 

receive 148 

red 39 

regard 38 

remain 19 

remember 98 

rent 62 

report 18 

request 9 

return 72 

rich 14 

ride 84 


III 

IV            V         VI 

8 

II           IV 

2 

II          IV           c 

2 

II 

AC 

2 

II        I 

3 

II        I 

AC 

2 

II        I 

AC 

2 

II        II 

C 

2 

III         I 

C 

2 

II        I 

C 

2 

II       II 

3 

II        I 

A 

3 

II        I 

A 

2 

II        I 

3 

II        II 

C 

2 

III         I 

C 

3 

III         I 

3 

II        I 

AC 

3 

III        I 

C 

1 

II        I 

AC 

2 

II       II 

3 

II        I 

AC 

2 

II        II 

3 

II         I 

C 

3 

II        I 

AC 

2 

II       II 

C 

3 

III        I 

C 

1 

III        I 

3 

I        I 

AC 

3 

II        I 

C 

2 

II        I 

:         c 

2 

III 

;       AC 

2 

II        I 

AC 

3 

I        I 

AC 

3 

II        I 

c 

2 

III        I 

3 

II        I 

c 

3 

II        I 

A 

3 

II        I 

AC 

2 

II        II 

AC 

2 

II        I 

A 

2 

III 

AC 

2 

II 

[          AC 

2 

II        I 

[             C 

2 

III        I 

[            A 

1 

III        I 

i            A 

2 

II 

A 

1 

III        I 

C 

3 

II        11 

[            C 

lyo    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

I  II  III         IV  V        VI 

ring 16 

road 16 

rock 26 

roll 14 

roof 13 

room 240 

safe 13 

satisfy 29 

save 46 

scare 10 

school 231 

seat 34 

second 47 

seem 274 

select 9 

sell 29 

send 385 

serve 30 

service 45 

set 38 

settle 39 

seventy 22 

sew 69 

shall 612 

shop 31 

short 91 

sick 132 

side 90 

sight 24 

sign .  .  i 18 

silk 15 

since 185 

sister 123 

sit 95 

sixty 28 

size 28 

skirt 46 

sleep 104 

small 76 

smoke 34 

snow 23 

something 164 

sometime 71 

son 12 

sore 33 

sorry 92 

sort 32 

sound 24 


3 

III 

II 

AC 

3 

II 

III 

c 

2 

II 

II 

2 

II 

III 

3 

II 

II 

2 

I 

II 

AC 

1 

II 

III 

C 

3 

II 

III 

2 

III 

II 

2 

II 

III 

2 

I 

II 

AC 

2 

II 

III 

2 

II 

I 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

AC 

2 

III 

II 

A 

3 

III 

II 

C 

3 

I 

II 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

C 

3 

III 

I 

A 

2 

II 

II 

A 

2 

II 

II 

C 

1 

II 

III 

C 

3 

II 

C 

3 

II 

I 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

2 

II 

I 

AC 

I 

III 

C 

2 

II 

II 

C 

3 

II 

II 

C 

3 

III 

II 

C 

II 

IV 

3 

I 

II 

AC 

2 

II 

II 

C 

2 

II 

III 

1 

II 

IV 

C 

3 

II 

II 

A 

2 

II 

IV 

C 

3 

II 

III 

C 

1 

II 

II 

AC 

2 

III 

II 

C 

2 

II 

II 

C 

1 

I 

II 

A 

2 

II 

II 

C 

3 

III 

II 

3 

II 

III 

3 

II 

II 

A 

2 

II 

III 

2 

II 

II 

C 

M 


WORD   LISTS 


171 


I  II 

south 30 

speak 76 

special 18 

spell 29 

spoil 14 

spot 12 

spring 44 

stair 71 

stand 83 

state 25 

stay 215 

step 30 

stick 18 

still 105 

stock 34 

stop 124 

store 47 

^tory 42 

stove 33 

street 181 

strike 24 

strong 43 

student 16 

study 41 

stuff 29 

style 18 

success 16 

suggest 9 

suit 91 

summer 79 

sun 24 

supper 94 

surprise 39 

sweet » 40 

table 39 

taste 15 

teach 37 

teacher 90 

ten 107 

terrible 52 

thank 31 

thick 11 

thin 21 

third 65 

thirty 39 

thoroughly 11 

throw 24 

ticket 37 


III      I 

V            V        VI 

2            I 

I           II           c 

3            I 

I             I          AC 

2           I] 

I            II             A 

2             ] 

1           I] 

I            II             C 

2           I] 

2             ] 

I            II             C 

3             ] 

I           III             C 

2             ] 

I            II          AC 

2             ] 

I            II             A 

2 

2             ] 

2             ] 

I           III             C 

2 

I            II          AC 

2             ] 

I            II             C 

2 

I            II          AC 

2             ] 

I            II             C 

2             ] 

I            II             C 

2             ] 

2 

I           n         AC 

2             ] 

I            II             C 

2             ] 

I            II             C 

2           J] 

3             ] 

I            II             A 

2           I] 

3             ] 

3           I] 

I            II          AC 

2           I] 

I            II             A 

3 

I            II             C 

3             ] 

I            II          AC 

1             ] 

I           III 

3 

2             ] 

I              I             A 

3             ] 

I           III             C 

2             ] 

I            II          AC 

2             ] 

I            II             C 

3           I] 

2           I] 

I            II          AC 

2             1 

I              I             C 

3             ] 

I            II             A 

2             ] 

I           III             A 

2          U 

I            II             C 

3            ] 

I           IV             C 

2            1 

2            ] 

I            II             C 

1           I] 

3             ] 

I            II             C 

3          II 

I            II            A 

172    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I  II  III 

tight 16  2 

tifi 103  2 

tire 112  2 

together 73  3 

tomorrow 170  2 

top 21  1 

treat 20  2 

tree 36  2 

trip 100  X 

trouble 93  3 

trunk 39  2 

turn 69  2 

twelve 29  3 

twenty 105  3 

twice 34  3 

uncle 72  3 

under 42  2 

understand 47  2 

university 31  2 

unless 57  2 

until 240  3 

upon 22  2 

usual 38  3 

vacation 10  3 

view 16  3 

waist 52  3 

wait 113  3 

walk 108  3 

wall 23  2 

warm 71  2 

wash 117  2 

waste 14  3 

watch 19  3 

water 54  3 

wear 112  3 

weather 77  3 

west 35  2 

whatever 24  2 

whether 102  2 

white 67  2 

who 208  1 

whole 54  3 

why 80  2 

wife 45  3 

win 22  3 

wind 28  2 

window 35  3 

winter 72  2 


IV 


WORD    LISTS 


173 


I  II  III  IV 

without 104  2  II 

woman 50  3  I 

wonder 96  3  II 

wonderful 28  2  IH 

word 74  2  II 

work 357  -2  II 

world 28  2  III 

worry 52  3  II 

worth 40  2  II 

wrong 27  3  III 

yard 30  2  III 

yellow 11  3  II 

yes 56  1  II 

young 104  3  II 

yourself 21  1  III 


V 


VI 

AC 

AC 

A 

C 

c 

AC 
AC 

A 
C 
C 
C 
A 

c 


LIST  III 


2207    WORDS WORDS    USED    BY  LESS    THAN    A    MA- 
JORITY   OF  THE    CORRESPONDENTS 
I  II  III  IV               V           VI 

absence 5  3  III  III      A 

absent 4  3  II 

absolutely 7  IV  II 

academy 3  3  IV  IV 

accent 3  2  III  IV 

accommodation 6  1  III               , 

accompany 7  3  III  III 

accomplish 15  2  III  III 

accord 6  2  III  III 

accuse 2  3  IV  IV 

accustom 2  2  III 

ache 28  3  II  IV 

acid 3  3  III 

acknowledge 3  3  IV  IV 

acquaint 8  2  III  III 

acquaintance 4  3  III  IV 

acquire 3  3  III  IV 

acre 5  3  IV  III 

action 10  2  IV  III 

active 2  2  IV  IV 

actually 5  I  III  II 

acute 3  2  III 

addition 4  3  III  III 

additional 4  1  IV  III 

adjoin 2  1  III 


•X. 


174    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

I  II 

adjourn 2 

administration 3 

admire 6 

admission 2 

admit 7 

adopt 6 

advance 7 

advertise 4 

advice 4 

advise 7 

affair 17 

affect 3 

affectionate 4 

affectionately 17 

afford 12 

afire 2 

agency 6 

agent 13 

aggravate 6 

agree 15 

agreeable 6 

aid 6 

ail 3 

aim 4 

aisle -2 

alarm 4 

album 2 

alcohol 3 

algebra 4 

alike 4 

alive 7 

alley 2 

aloud 6 

alphabet 2 

altar 2 

alter 5 

alteration 2 

although 61 

altitude 5 

altogether 6 

amateur 2 

ambition 5 

amuse 4 

anesthetic 2 

angel 3 

anpy 6 

animal 7 

ankle 5 


III 

IV 

V 

VI 

3 

III 

1 

III 

1 

II 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

II 

2 

IV 

III 

1 

IV 

III 

3 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

2 

III 

II 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

IV 

II 

c 

3 

IV 

II 

1 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 
III 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

2 

II 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

WORD   LISTS  175 

I  11  III        IV  V       VI 

anniversary 4 

announce 3 

announcement 3 

annually 2 

anybody 12 

anyhow 20 

anywhere 6 

apart 8 

apartment 12 

apiece 9 

apparatus 6 

appeal 4 

appear 9 

appearance 2 

appetite 6 

apple 24 

application 6 

apply 4 

appoint 4 

appointment 3 

appreciative 2 

approach 4 

appropriate 4 

approve 7 

approximately 3 

apron 15 

apt 2 

area 2 

argue 4 

argument 6 

arm 67 

arrange 12 

arrangement 10 

arrival 6 

art 6 

article 7 

artificially 2 

ashamed 5 

aside 6 

assembly 3 

assist 5 

assistant    4 

associate 4 

association 9 

assume 2 

assufe 11 

attack 6 

attendance 6 


3 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

III 

3 

III 

III 

A 

3 

III 

3 

III 

2 

II 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

A 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

A 

1 

III 

IV 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

3 

IV 

III 

3 

IV 

II 

2 

II 

IV 

C 

3 

III 

II 

A 

1 

III 

II 

3 

IV 

III 

2 

II 

2 

III 

III 

A 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

1 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

2 

III 

III 

A 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

II 

A 

2 

IV 

II 

2 

III 

III 

176    THE   CHILD   AND   HIS   SPELLING 


I  II 

attention 8 

attentive 2 

attic 6 

attorney 3 

attraction 5 

auction 2 

autobiography 2 

average 7 

aviary 2 

avoid 5 

await 7 

awake 12 

awaken 3 

awhile 16 

bachelor 7 

backward 6 

bacon 8 

bag 11 

baggage 6 

bake 44 

balance 7 

bald 3 

baU 29 

banana 2 

band 11 

banquet 19 

bar 2 

bare 10 

barely 5 

barn 13 

barrel 6 

barrier 2 

base 16 

baseball 10 

basement 3 

bat 8 

bathe 8 

bathroom 14 

bawl 2 

bay 8 

beach 10 

bead 5 

bean 18 

bear 20 

beautifully 7 

beauty 5 

bedroom 16 

bedtime 3 


III 

IV 

V 

VI 

2 

III 

II 

A 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

III 

3 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

III 

1 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

3 

IV 

II 

A 

2 

III 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

IV 

III 

3 

III 

1 

III 

2 

in 

3 

II 

c 

3 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

c 

3 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

1 

III 

2 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

c 

II 

IV 

2 

III 

1 

III 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

II 

c 

1 

III 

3 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

IV 

WORD 

LIST 

s 

177 

1 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

bee 

2 

2 

III 

beef 

7 

2 

III 

c 

beer 

4 

1 

III 

IV 

beforehand 

3 

1 

III 

IV 

beg 

behave 

7 

2 

III 

III 

A 

3 

2 

III 

behind 

11 

2 

III 

III 

c 

behold 

2^ 

2 

IV 

IV 

bell 

8 

2 

III 

IV 

15 

2 

III 

III 

below 

7 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

9 

2 

III 

bend 

5 

2 

III 

III 

13 

3 

III 

III 

berry 

10 

2 

III 

c 

berth 

11 

3 

III 

IV 

bet 

7 

II 

betimes 

2 

III 

beyond 

6 

3 

III 

bicycle 

2 

3 

IV 

IV 

bid 

8 

2 

III 

bind 

9 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

bird 

6 

2 

III 

IV 

birth 

2 

2 

III 

c 

biscuit 

8 

3 

III 

blank 

4 

I 

IV 

IV 

blanket 

6 

X 

III 

IV 

blaze 

2 

2 

III 

bleed 

2 

2 

III 

bless 

8 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

blind 

8 

2 

III 

c 

blister 

3 

2 

III 

IV 

bloody 

2 

IV 

IV 

bloom 

4 

2 

III 

blossom 

6 

3 

III 

blot 

5 

1 

III 

IV 

blouse 

4 

3 

III 

IV 

bluff 

7 

1 

III 

IV 

blush 

6 

2 

III 

IV 

boarder 

6 

III 

III 

boat 

20 

3 

III 

III 

c 

boil 

15 

2 

II 

IV 

c 

bone 

6 

2 

III 

III 

bonnet 

2 

3 

III 

bookcase 

6 

1 

III 

III 

border 

3 

8 

IV 

IV 

borrow 

13 

3 

III 

III 

boss 

6 

2 

IV 

II 

178    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

I  II  III  IV            V         VI 

bother 17  1  II           IV 

bow 6  3  III           IV 

bowel 11  III 

bowl 3  3  III 

brace 2  2  IV            IV 

braid 6  3  III 

brain 5  3  III            II 

branch 2  2  IV            IV 

brand 2  2  IV            IV 

breast 2  2  III 

breath 3  3  III            IV 

breathe 11  3  III           III 

brick 9  2  III           III             C 

bride 2  1  III 

bridge 10  2  III           III             C 

bright 15  3  III           III 

brightly 2  1  IV            IV 

brilliant 2  3  IV            IV 

brisk 2  1  III 

broach 2  1  IV            IV 

bronchitis 6  2  III 

bruise 3  3  III           IV 

brush 8  2  III           IV 

bug 3  1  III           IV 

buggy 4  2  IV           III 

bugle 2  1  III 

bull 3  2  IV           IV 

bum 6  III  IV 

bump 2  1  III 

bunch 14  2  III           III 

bundle 7  2  III           IV             C 

bungalow 7  III  IV 

burden 4  2  III           III 

burial 4  2  III 

burner 6  III 

burst 2  2  III 

bury 7  2  III 

bus 11  III  III 

bush 3  2  III 

bushel 9  3  II                            C 

bust 2  III 

button 19  2  III                            C 

cab 4  1  IV            IV 

cabbage 7  3  III 

cabin 4  3  III            IV 

cafeteria 14  III  IV 

calculation 2  1  IV           IV 

calendar 2  3  IV           IV 


I  II 

caller 8 

camel 2 

camera 3 

camp 10 

camphor 3 

cancer 2 

candidate 5 

candy 19 

canoe 5 

canon 6 

canvas 2 

cap 11 

capacity 6 

cape 4 

capital 2 

capitol 10 

captain 4 

carbon 4 

carefully 4 

careless ^.  2 

carelessness 3 

carnation 3 

carpenter 3 

carpet 4 

carriage 7 

cartoon 2 

cash 7 

casserole 7 

cast 3 

cat 4 

catalogue 3 

catarrh 4 

cave 6 

ceiling 4 

celebrate 2 

celebration 2 

cellar 12 

cement 4 

cemetery 4 

center 7 

central 2 

chain 4 

chairman 2 

channel 4 

chapel 24 

chaperon 12 

chapter 2 

character 4 


IS'l 

'S 

179 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

III 

2 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

1 

III 

3 

IV 

III 

2 

II 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 
III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

IV 

III 

A 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

III 

c 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

A 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

AC 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

IV 

III 

i8o    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLLNG 


// 


I  II 

charity 3 

charm 7 

chase 6 

Chautauqua 17 

cheaply 2 

check 14 

cheek 10 

cheerful. 8 

chest.... ^ 2 

chief 2 

childhood 4 

childish 2 

chill 7 

chilly 5 

chimney 2 

china 4 

chip 2 

chocolate 3 

choice 9 

choir 18 

choke 2 

choose 6 

chore 9 

cigar 3 

circle 6 

circular 4 

circumstance 6 

circus 10 

cistern 12 

citizen 2 

civil 4 

claim 6 

classical 2 

clause 2 

clerk 6 

climate 10 

climb 6 

clip 15 

closely 2 

closet 20 

cloud 6 

cloudy 9 

club 16 

coach 8 

coal 17 

coast..... 10 

coll^ 11 

collect 6 


III 

IV 

V 

VI 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

II 

3 

III 

III 

1 

III 

III 

2 

III 

A 

2 

III 

II 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

IV 

IV 

3 

II 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

c 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

3 

III 

2 

III 

II 

3 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

3 

III 

II 

c 

1 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

2 

III 

3 

III 

2 

III 

III 

A 

1 

III 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

II 

IV 

IV 

3 

II 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

III 

c 

1 

III 

III 

c 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

WORD   LISTS  i8i 

I  II  III       IV  V       VI 

collection 7 

college 36 

comb 11 

combination 2 

combine 3 

comedy 3 

comfortably 6 

commence 8 

commencement 10 

comment 4 

commission 3 

committee 4  3  III  IV  AC 

communication 4 

companion 3 

comparison 2 

complain 8 

complete 9 

completely 4 

compliment 4 

concert 4 

conclude 9 

conduct 10 

conductor 3 

confess 4 

confidential 6 

confine 3 

congenial 3 

congress 2 

connect 6 

connection 13 

consent 6 

consequence 4 

consequently 4 

consider 10 

considerable 13 

considerably 8 

consideration 3 

consist 6 

conspicuous 2 

constant 3 

constantly 6 

construct 2 

consult 2 

consumption 5 

contain 8 

contemplate 2 

contend 2 

content 14 


III 

IV 

V 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

II 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

1 

IV 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

III 

Itt 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

II 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

1 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

III 

2 

III 

II 

1 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

IV 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

1 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

i82     THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

I  II  III  IV  V         VI 

contest 16  2  IV  IV 

continually 6  1  III  III 

contract 13  2  III  II 

contrary 2  2  IV  IV 

contrast 2  2  IV  IV 

contribution 3  2  III 

control 4  3  IV  II 

convenient 3  2  III  IV             A 

convention 8  2  II 

conversation 6  2  III  II 

convert 2  2  IV  IV 

convey 2  3  IV  IV 

conveyance ■">  2  IV  IV 

convince 5  2  IV  II 

cooky 8  1  III 

corner 13  3  III  III             C 

corporation 2  2  III 

correct 12  3  III  III 

corset 5  1  III 

cottage 5  3  III 

cotton 7  3  III                            C 

couch 13  3  III  III 

cough 28  3  III 

counter 4  2  IV  IV 

county 15  1  IV  II 

courage 3  3  IV  IV             C 

court 17  3  III  III 

cousin 36  3  III  III             C 

cow 4  2  IV  III 

cozy 2  3  III 

crack 4  2  III 

cracker 5  2  III 

cramp 6  1  III  IV 

cranberry 2  2  III 

crawl 2  2  IV  IV 

cream 22  3  II  IV 

create 2  2  III 

creature 2  3  IV  IV 

credit 7  2  III  III 

crestfallen 2  IV  IV 

critical 4  2  III  III 

criticize 4  2  IV  III 

crochet 2  2  III 

crocodile 3  1  IV  IV 

crop 8  2  III  III 

crow 2  2  III 

crowd 18  3  III  II 

crown 3  2  III  IV 


WORD   LISTS  183 


I  II  III  IV  V       VI 

cruel 2  3  IV  IV             C 

crutch 6  2  III  IV 

cry 60  2  III  IV 

cucumber 2  3  III 

cuff 3  1  III 

cultivate 5  2  III 

culture 3  2  III  IV 

cupboard 8  3  III  IV 

curly 6  IV  IV 

currant 2  3  III 

curtain 20  3  III  IV 

cushion 6  3  III  IV 

custard 13  3  III 

custom 7  3  IV  III             C 

customary 2  2  III 

cute 13  1  III  IV 

daddy 20  III 

daily 13  3  III  II             C 

dainty 2  3  III 

dairy 5  3  III  IV 

damage 6  3  III  IV 

damp 2  2  III                              C 

dancer 2  IV  IV 

dandy 5  1  III  III 

danger 9  3  IV  II             C 

dangerous 3  IV  III 

dare 10  2  III  III             C 

darkness 3  2  IV  III 

darling 42  1  III  IV 

darn 6  2  III  IV 

daytime 3  IV  IV 

dean 3  1  III 

debate 18  2  IV  III 

debt 4  3  IV  III             ^ 

deceitful 2  1  IV  IV 

decent 6  2  III  IV 

decision 5  2  III  III 

deck 3  2  III  IV 

declamation 4  1  IV  IV 

declare 2  2  III 

decline 4  1  IV  IV 

decorate 3  3  IV  IV 

decoration 3  1  III  IV 

deed 2  2  III 

deep 10  2  III  II             C 

deer 2  2  III 

defeat 6  1  II             C 

definite 2  1  III 


'Tn 


184    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

I  II 

definitely 6 

delay 11 

delight 9 

delightful 10 

delightfully 2 

deliver 8 

delivery 7 

demonstrate 3 

dentist 21 

deny 5 

depart 2 

department 4 

depend 5 

deposit 5 

depot 34 

deprive 2 

descend 3 

describe 5 

description 3 

descriptive 2 

desert 6 

deserve 5 

design 2 

desirable 2 

desire 13 

desk 8 

desperately 2 

despondent 2 

dessert 3 

destination 2 

destitute 2 

destroy 2 

detail 6 

detain 3 

determine 11 

develop 2 

development 2 

devil 8 

diamond 2 

dictionary 4 

diet 2 

difficulty 2 

dig 6 

dine 17 

diner 5 

diploma 2 

direction 10 

directly 6 


III 

IV 

V         VI 

IV 

II 

2. 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 
III 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

1 

III 

II 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

c 

2 

II 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV             A 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

3 

III 

III 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

III 

3 

III 

IV           c 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

II          AC 

2 

III 

III 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

3 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

A 

2 

III 

III 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

1 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III             A 

1 

IV 

II 

WORD   LISTS  i8s 

I  II          III       IV          V       VI 

dirt 16 

dirty 31 

disagreeable 8 

disappear 2 

disappointment 4 

disaster 4 

discharge 2 

discord 2 

discourage 7 

discover 3 

discuss 3 

discussion 2 

disease 7 

disgrace 2 

disgust 4 

disjoint 2 

dislike 3 

dismal 2 

dismiss 7 

dismissal 5 

display 2 

dispose 4 

disposition 2 

dispute 2 

distance 15 

distant 5 

district 11 

disturb 3 

ditch 5 

diversion 2 

dividend 4 

division 2 

dizzy 3 

dog 9 

doll 11 

dome 2 

domestic 4 

donation 2 

dose 4 

double 7 

doubtless 5 

dozen 25 

draft 26 

drag 3 

draw 17 

drawer 24 

drayage 2 

dread 7 


2 

III 

IV 

c 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

II 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

3 

III 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

III 

1 

III 

3 

III 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

II 

III 

3 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

IV  . 

IV 

2 

Ill 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

1 

III 

III 

3 

III 

II 

c 

2 

II 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

II 

c 

3 

III 
III 

IV 

2 

III 

1 86    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I  II 

dreadful 7 

dreadfully 4 

dream 20 

dresser 4 

dressmaker 3 

drift 4 

drink 16 

driver 6 

drown 3 

drug 2 

due 9 

duet 2 

dull 4 

dusty 3 

dwell 2 

ear 10 

earn 8 

earnest 9 

ease 2 

ea^ly 14 

east 24 

eastern 6 

easy 19 

economical 3 

economize 3 

edge 4 

edition 2 

educate 4 

education 12 

effort 16 

egg 25 

eighteen 18 

eighth 3 

eighty 11 

elaborate 3 

elbow 6 

elect 18 

election 7 

elope 2 

elsewhere 3 

embroider 3 

embroidery 4 

emergency 2 

employ 8 

employee 11 

employer 2 

employment 5 

empty 4 


III 

IV 

V 

VI 

2 

III 

IV 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

III 

1 

III 
III 

IV 

c 

2 

II 

2 

III 
III 

III 

c 

2 

IV 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

c 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

c 

2 

IV 

II 

c 

3 

III 

III 

c 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

2 

II 

IV 

c 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

II 

A 

2 

IV 

II 

AC 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

c 

1 

III 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

II 

2 

III 

II 

2 

IV 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

1 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

3 

III 

WORD   LISTS  187 

I  II        ni      rv        V      VI 

enable 2 

encourage 3 

encouragement 3 

engage 8 

engine 11 

engineer 10 

enjoyable 6 

enlarge 2 

enroll 3 

enrollment 2 

enter 10 

entertain 11 

enthusiasm 2 

entire 8 

entirely 22 

entitle 3 

envelop 19 

envy 4 

epistle 3 

equally 3 

erect 2 

errand , 9 

error 4 

escape 4 

escort 2 

especial 2 

essential 2 

establish 5 

estimate 3 

eve 18 

event 6 

eventually 2 

everlasting 2 

everywhere 5 

evil 2 

exact 6 

exactly 8 

examine 7 

exceed 4 

excellent 9 

exceptionally 2 

exchange 2 

excitement 6 

excursion 12 

exercise 25 

exhaust 3 

exhibit 3 

exhibition , 2 


ni 

IV 

V 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

1 

III 

III 

1 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

1 

II 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

II 

IV 

2 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

IV 

III 

3 

III 

3 

III 

3 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

IV 

IV 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

3 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

II 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

II 

3 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

i88    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


-i?i- 


I  II 

expectation 4 

expensive 12 

expire 2 

explain 16 

exposition 2 

exposure 2 

expression 2 

extend 4 

extent 3 

extreme 3 

factory 20 

faculty 14 

fade 6 

failure 3 

faint 2 

fairly 12 

faith 8 

faithful 3 

false 2 

familiar 2 

famous 2 

fancy 9 

fare 20 

farm 15 

farmer 5 

fascinate 2 

fashion 7 

fasten 5 

fault 17 

favor 8 

favorable 4 

favorably 2 

favorite 3 

fearful 7 

feast 2 

feat 3 

feather 5 

feature 3 

fee 4 

feed 10 

fellowship 2 

fence 8 

ferry 6 

fever 29 

field 7 

fierce 8 

fifth 5 

fig 2 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


1 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

11 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

II 

c 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

III 

A 

1 

III 

II 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

II 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

c 

3 

III 

3 

III 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

II 

2 

III 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

II 

2 

IV 

III 
III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

3 

III 

III 

2 

II 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

WORD   LISTS  189 


I  II 

figure 15 

file 6 

fin 2 

final 6 

finally 23 

finance 4 

financial 4 

finger 9 

firecracker 3 

fireman 3 

firm 2 

fish 12 

flannel 3 

flavor 2 

flight 3 

flour 3 

flower 14 

fly 24 

foggy 6 

fold 4 

foliage 4 

fond 5 

food 16 

fool 16 

foolish 20 

football 36 

force 6 

foreign 4 

forever 6 

forgive 4 

fork 2 

form 12 

formal 4 

fort 2 

fortunate 9 

fortune 5 

forty 28 

forward 21 

foundation 8 

fourteen 7 

frame 12 

frank 4 

fraternity 3 

freak 2 

freeze 6 

freight 9 

frequent 2 

frequently 6 


[II 

rv 

V 

VI 

3 

III 

II 

c 

2 

III 

III 

1 

III 

2 

IV 

II 

3 

III 

III 

A 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

III 

2 

III 
III 

IV 

c 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

II 

c 

3 

III 

3 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

HI 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

II 

IV 

c 

1 

III 

IV 

IV 

III 

c 

1 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

II 

c 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

c 

1 

III 

II 

AC 

1 

IV 

IV 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

II 

3 

III 

III 

3 

III 

III 

c 

8 

III 

IV 

A 

1 

III 

II 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

II 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

c 

3 

III 

III 

3 

III 

III 

IV 

I90    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

-"I  II  ni  IV        V      VI 

fresh 16  2  III  III            C 

freshman 6  1  III  IV 

friendly 6  1  III  III 

friendship 2  2  III 

frighten 2  2  IV  IV 

frost 9  2  III  IV 

fruit 26  3  III  III             C 

fry 12  1  III  IV 

fudge 15  1  IV  IV 

fully 8  III  III             A 

function 2  2  IV  IV 

fund 2  1  IV  IV 

funeral 9  2  III  IV 

fur 7  3  III 

furnace 4  2  III  IV      C 

furnish 18  1  III      II 

furniture 8  3  III 

fuss 4  1  III 

future 10  2  III             II             C 

gain 8  3  III  III 

gallery 8  2  III 

gang 2  1  IV  IV 

garden 4  2  III  III              C 

garment 4  2  IV  IV 

gas 6  2  III                            C 

gasoline 7  2  III 

gasp 2  1  III 

gay 6  1  III  IV 

gem 9  2  III 

generally 7  1  III  IV 

generous 2  2  III 

gentle 3  3  IV  IV 

gentleman 6  2  III  III             A 

genuine 3  3  IV  IV 

geography 5  3                             II 

geometry 16  1  IV  III 

lift 8  2  III  III 

giggle 2  1  III 

illnce 3  2  IV  IV 

gloomy 8  III  IV 

glorious 3  2  III 

glory 2  2  IV  IV 

glove 6  2  III 

glue 3  3  III  IV 

gold 11  2  IV  III          AC 

golden 7  2  IV  III 

goodby 69  II  IV 

goodness 7  X  II  IV            G 


WORD   LISTS 


I  II 

goodnight 38 

goody 3 

goose 5 

gorge 6 

gosfjel 3 

govern 2 

government 3 

gown 17 

grab 3 

gradually 2 

graduate 5 

grain 4 

grandma 29 

grandmother 3 

grandpa 14 

grandparent 2 

grant 3 

grape 13 

grass 18 

grate 7 

grave 6 

gravy 5 

gray 20 

grease 2 

greatly 12 

greet 4 

griddle 3 

grin 2 

grocer 2 

grocery 11 

groom 2 

grove 2 

guard 5 

guest 8 

guide 11 

guild 4 

guilty 3 

gum 2 

gun 4 

guy 4 

gymnasium 6 

gymnastic 2 

ha 14 

habit 10 

ham 2 

handkerchief 14 

handle 6 

handy 4 


ISi 

s 

191 

[II 

IV 

V 

VI 

III 

III 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

c 

1 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

III 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

III 

c 

3 

III 

III 

III 

c 

1 

III 

2 

III 

III 

c 

3 

III 

c 

III 

II 

2 

III 

1 

III 

1 

III 

3 

III 

2 

III 

c 

1 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

III 
III 

1 

III 

III 

1 

III 

1 

III 

3 

III 

III 

1 

III 

2 

II 

IV 

3 

III 
III 

II 

c 

192    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

I  II 

happily 4 

happiness 5 

hardship 2 

harm 2 

harmony 5 

harness 2 

harvest 3 

hash 3 

haste 4 

hasten 2 

haul 4  ^ 

hay 6 

headache » . .  24 

heal 3 

healthy 5 

heap 4 

heartfelt 2 

hearty 3 

heaven 4 

heavily 6 

heel 3 

height 5 

hello 6 

helper 3 

helpful 4 

hen 5 

hence 5 

herald 2 

hereafter 3 

hesitate 3 

hide 10 

highly 5 

hike 3 

hill 12 

hilly 3 

hinge 2 

hint 2 

hire 14 

history 18 

hit 9 

hoarse 3 

hog 6 

holder 2 

holiday 19 

hollow 2 

holy . 3 

homelike 3 

homely 4 


III 

IV 

V 

VI 

1 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

1 

II 

IV 

3 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

III 
III 

1 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

III 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

II 

c 

1 

IV 

IV 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 
III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

II 

1 

III 

II 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

III 

c 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

c 

3 

IV 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

WORD   LISTS  193 


I  II 

homesick 8 

honest 10 

honestly 2 

honey 3 

honor 3 

hood 2 

hook 5 

hop 2 

hopeful 3 

horn 5 

horrible 7 

horrid 3 

horseback 3 

hose 3 

hospitable 2 

hospital 16 

household 7 

housekeeper 4 

housekeeping 6 

housework 3 

hug 31 

huge 2 

human 6 

humble 3 

hundred 17 

hungry 8 

hunt 12 

husband 25 

hustle 10 

hymn 6 

hysterics 4 

ice 20 

icy 2 

ideal 2 

identify 2 

ignoramus 4 

ill 8 

illness 7 

imitate 3 

immediately 7 

immense 4 

immensely 6 

impatient 2 

importance 6 

important 6 

impose 4 

impress 6 

impression 5 


III 

IV 

V 

VI 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

A 

2 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

II 

A 

2 

III 
III 

III 

III 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

II 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

II 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

1 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

AC 

1 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

A 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

II 

2 

III 

III 

194    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I  ir- 

impressive 2 

improvement 4 

inaugurate 3 

inch 9 

incidentally 5 

include 18 

inconvenience 4 

increase 11 

indeed 12 

indefinitely 2 

indescribable 2 

indigestion 2 

indigo 2 

individual 5 

industrious 4 

industry 2 

influence 9 

inform 7 

informal 3 

information 4 

injure 2 

injury 4 

ink 5 

innocent 2 

inquire 10 

inspect 2 

inspiration 2 

install 2 

instance 6 

instant 2 

institute 21 

instruct 2 

insult 2 

insurance 16 

insure 4 

intention 2 

intermission 2 

interrupt 5 

interruption 5 

intimate 5 

introduce 3 

introduction 3 

intrude 3 

invalid 3 

investment 2 

invitation 14 

iris 2 

itch 2 


III 

IV 

V 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

III 

III 

2 

III 

III 

IV 

II 

3 

IV 

II 

2 

III 

II 
III 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

1 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

3 

III 

II 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

II 

2 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

II 

3 

in 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

1 

III. 

2 

III 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

8 

III 
III 

UI 

III 

VI 


AC 


WORD  LISTS                       195 

I  II  III  IV  V        VI 

item 6  2  III  IV 

itself 4  1  III  III 

jam 2  2  III 

janitor 17  3  III  III 

jar 2  1  IV  IV 

jaw 10  1  IV  IV 

jealous 13  3  III  IV 

jelly 14  3  II 

jewel 2  3  III                              C 

joke 8  2  III  III 

jolly 4  3  III  IV 

journey 9  3  III  III 

joy 2  2  IV  IV             C 

judge 17  3  III  IV             C 

judgment 9  3  III  III             C 

juice 6  3  III                            C 

jump 11  2  II  IV 

junior 12  3  III  II 

junk 2  1  IV  IV 

justice 6  2  IV  III 

justify 3  2  IV  III 

key 5  2  III  IV 

kick 4  3  IV  IV 

kidney 4  1  III 

kimono 5  1  III  IV 

kindly 7  1  II              A 

kindergarten 6  1  IV  III 

kindness 3  III  IV          AC 

king 4  2  III  IV 

kitten 3  2  III 

knee 11  3  III  IV 

knife 3  3  III                            C 

knock 8  3  III  III 

knowledge 4  3  IV  IV             C 

kodak 4  2  IV  IV 

labor 8  3  III  III             A 

lace 18  2  III  III 

lack 12  2  III  II 

lake 23  2  III  III 

lame 7  1  III 

lamp 4  2  III  IV 

landlady 6  III  III 

language 2  3  IV  IV 

lantern 3  3  IV  IV 

lap 16  2  III  IV 

lard 4  1  III 

largely 2  IV  IV 

laugh 75  3  III  IV            C 


196     THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

launch 

3 

2 
3 

III 
III 

launder 

3 

laundry 

6 

3 

III 

IV 

law 

15 

2 

II 

IV 

c 

lawn 

9 

3 

III 

III 

lawyer 

3 

3 

IV 

III 

c 

lay 

40 

2 

III 

III 

c 

layer 

4 

1 

III 

IV 

lazy 

8 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

lead 

13 

3 

III 

II 

A 

leader 

3 

2 

IV 

III 

leaf 

9 

2 

III 

IV 

league 

54 

2 

IV 

IV 

lean 

4 

2 

III 

IV 

lease 

6 

2 

III 

IV 

leather 

6 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

lecture 

22 

3 

III 

III 

leg 

13 

2 

III 

II 

c 

legging 

4 

1 

III 

legislature 

2 

2 

III 

lemon 

4 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

lemonade 

4 

3 

III 

IV 

length 

13 

3 

III 

II 

c 

lens 

2 

2 

III 

level 

5 

3 

III 

III 

c 

lie 

23 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

lien 

2 

2 

IV 

IV 

lift 

9 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

lighten 

2 

1 

1 

IV 

III 

IV 

II 

likely 

33 

lily 

2 

3 

IV 

IV 

limb 

4 

2 

III 

limit 

14 

3 
2 

III 
III 

III 

limp 

2 

linen 

2 

3 

III 

c 

lip 

6 

2 

III 

IV 

liquor 

2 

2 
2 

III 
III 

III 

list , 

12 

A 

literary 

6 

2 

IV 

IV 

literature 

7 

3 

IV 

II 

lively 

6 

2 

III 

liver 

2 

1 

III 

load 

14 

3 

III 

loaf 

3 

3 

IV 

IV 

loan 

6 

3 

III 

IV 

local 

5 

2 

IV 

III 

locate , 

8 

2 

III 

III 

location 

8 

1 

III 

IV 

WORD   LISTS  197 


I  II 

lock 11 

lodge 4 

logic 8 

lonely 8 

lonesome 14 

loop 3 

loose 5 

loss 8 

loud 2 

lovable 3 

lover '.  7 

lovingly 12 

luck 5 

lumber 2 

lump 2 

luncheon 7 

lung 16 

luxury 6 

ma 97 

mad 30 

madam 3 

magazine 9 

maid 5 

niain 8 

majesty 2 

majority 6 

male 3 

mama 176 

manager 2 

manly 3 

manner 10 

manufacture 4 

marble 3 

march 2 

mark 10 

marriage 2 

marry 81 

mash 2 

mason 4 

masonic 3 

mass 3 

master 7 

mat 6 

match 6 

mathematics 2 

matron 7 

mattress 7 

meantime 2 


[II 

IV 

V 

VI 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

1 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

3 

III 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

IV 

III 

c 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

III 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

A 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

3 

III 

III 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

II 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

II 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

8 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

AC 

2 

IV 

IV 

c 

1 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

1 

IV 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

II 

c 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

III 
III 

198    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I  II 

measure 8 

meat 19 

medical 3 

medicine 24 

melt 8 

member 29 

memorial 4 

memory 7 

mend 38 

mercy 3 

merely 6 

merry 6 

mess 7 

message 3 

method 4 

mid 19 

middle 20 

mild 2 

milk 14 

million 4 

mince 4 

miner 3 

minimum 2 

minister 20 

minus 2 

miserable 7 

mislead 2 

missionary 6 

misspell 2 

mistake 22 

misunderstand     4 

mitten 6 

mix 11 

mixture 3 

mob 3 

mock 2 

modern 6 

mohair 2 

monkey 2 

monthly 6 

moon 4 

moonlight 2 

moose 2 

mop 4 

moral 2 

mortgage 2 

mostly 6 

moth 3 


[II 

IV 

V 

VI 

3 

III 

III 

AC 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

A 

3 

II 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

II 

A 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

c 

1 

III 

II 

3 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

II 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

II 

c 

1 

III 

III 

c 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

1 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

c 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

1 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

WORD  LISTS                       199 

I  II  III  IV           V        VI 

motion 6  3  III  IV 

motor 7  3  IV  IV 

mountain 25  3  III  IV             C 

mouse 5  2  III                             C 

mouth 17  2  III  IV 

movement 3  1  III  IV 

mud 10  1  III             II 

murder 3  2  IV  IV              C 

muscle 3  3  III  IV 

muscular 3  2  III 

museum 10  3  III 

musical 8  1  III  III 

muslin 4  3  III  IV 

muss 3  1  III 

mutilate 3  2  III 

mystery 2  2  III 

nail 4  2  III  IV             C 

nap 22  1  III 

napkin 4  3  III 

narrow 7  2  III  III             C 

national 9  3  III  III 

native 2  2  IV  IV 

natural 10  3  III  III 

naturally 7  1                             II 

naughty 4  3  III 

navy 2  1  IV  IV 

nearby 18  III 

neat 4  1  III                             C 

necessity 2  3  IV  IV 

necktie 3  1  IV  IV 

neglect 2  2  IV  IV 

negro 3  2  IV  IV 

neighbor 17  3  II  IV 

neighborhood .2  1  III 

neighborly 2  III 

nephew 2  3  IV  IV 

nervous 11  2  II  IV 

newspaper 17  2  III  IV             C 

nicely 19  III  III 

nightgown 6  III 

nineteen "8  3  III  IV 

ninety 13  2  III  IV             C 

ninth 7  1  III  IV 

nod 3  III  IV 

noisy 5  III 

nonsense 3  2  IV  IV 

nor 18  1  III  III 

normal 10  1  III  III 


{v\i)N'\^^'^ 


200    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 


III         IV  V         VI 


^S^^^  /  ^  noticeaJb^ W : . ^. ...       2  III 


OGjify, ;-rv: 2  3  III 

notion 6  2  III  III 

notwithstanding 3  III 

nurse 6  3  II                             C 

nut 4  2  IV  IV             C 

oatmeal 3  1  IV  IV             C 

object 12  2  III  IV 

objection 4  3  III  IV 

obligate 6  1  IV  IV 

oblige 4  3  III                         AC 

observation 8  1  IV  III 

observe 5  2  III  III 

occasion 7  3  IV  III 

occasionally 4  1  III  III 

occupant 3  2  III 

occupy 11  3  III             II 

occur 8  3  III 

ocean 7  3  III  III             C 

odd 7  2  III  IV 

offend 4  2                            II             C 

officer 4  3  III  III 

official 6  1  IV  IV 

oil 17  3  III  IV             C 

oUve 3  2  III  IV 

omit 2  3  IV  IV 

onto 6  III 

opera 6  3  IV             II 

operation 8  1  III  III 

opinion 4  3  IV  III 

opportune 2  2  IV  IV 

opportunity 15  3  III             II 

opp>ose 5  2  III 

opposite 5  3  III  III 

opposition 4  2  IV  IV 

orange 19  2  II  IV             C 

orchard 6  3  III  IV 

ordinary 3  3  IV  IV 

organ 7  3  IV  III 

organize 4  2  IV  IV 

original 2  3  IV  IV 

outcome 4  1  IV  IV 

outfit 3  IV  III 

outlook 2  IV  IV 

outrage 3  1  III 

oven 4  3  III 

overalls 6  1  III  IV 


WORD  LISTS                       20I 

I  II  III  IV          V       VI 

overcoat 5  1  IV  III 

overdo 5  III 

overflow 2  1  III 

overhaul 2  III 

overlook 5  1  III  III 

overturn 2  IV  IV 

oyster 4  3  III 

pad 3  1  III 

paddle 2  3  III 

page 6  2  III  IV 

pail 7  3  III 

pain 22  3  III  III             C 

pair 30  2  III  IV             A 

pale 2  3  III 

palm 2  3  IV  IV 

pan 13  2  II  IV 

pancake 5  IV  IV 

panel 2  2  IV  IV             A 

pant 7  1  IV  IV 

pantry 4  3  IV  IV 

papa 66  1  III  III 

parade 4  3  III  IV 

parcel 4  3  III 

pardon 2  3  IV  IV 

parent 4  3  IV  III             C 

partially 3  III  IV 

particular 14  2  III             II          AC 

particularly 14  1  III             II 

partly 7  1  III  IV             C 

passenger 8  3  III  IV 

patch 3  3  III 

patent 2  1  IV  IV 

path 3  2  IV  IV 

patience 2  3  IV  IV 

patient 7  3  III  IV 

patron 2  2  IV  IV 

patronize 6  1  III  III 

pattern 22  3  III 

pave 5  1  III  IV 

pavement 2  3  III 

payable 2  2  IV  IV 

payment 6  2  IV  IV 

pea 2  2  III 

peace 6  3  III             II             C 

peaceful 2  IV  IV 

peach 9  3  III  IV             C 

peak 3  3  IV  IV 

peanut 2  3  III 


202     THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

I  II 

pear 4 

peck 6 

peculiar 3 

peep 2 

peer 2 

peg 2 

pencil 5 

penny 6 

pepper 2 

perfect 15 

perfectly 28 

perform 2 

performance 4 

period 6 

peritonitis 2 

permanent 3 

permission 9 

permit 7 

persimmon 2 

personal 3 

personality 3 

personally. 4 

persuade 6 

pet 2 

petition 2 

philosophy 2 

phone 20 

photo 3 

photographer 2 

physic 3 

physical 6 

physically 2 

physiology 3 

pickle 8 

picnic 11 

picturesque 2 

pig 2 

pile 11 

pink 27 

pint 4 

pipe 6 

pitch 2 

pitcher 2 

pity 6 

plaid 3 

plain 14 

plainly 6 

plait 7 


III 

IV 

V 

VI 

3 

III 

c 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

3 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

III 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

II 

IV 

c 

1 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

II 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

A 

1 

II 
III 

3 

III 

III 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

II 

IV 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

III 

1 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

2 

III 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

3 

III 

3 

III 

III 

AC 

1 

III 

III 

1 

III 

WORD    LISTS  203 


I  II 

plant 13 

plaster 6 

plate 10 

platform 2 

player 4 

pleasantly 3 

pleasure 29 

pledge 2 

plum 11 

plush 3 

pocket 10 

pocketbook 4 

poem 2 

poetry 11 

poison 6 

policy 8 

polish 3 

p>olitical 4 

pond 3 

poorly 7 

popular 8 

population 2 

pork 7 

porter 6 

portifire 2 

portion 3 

pose 2 

position 8 

positively 4 

possibility 4 

possibly 17 

postage 6 

postal 22 

poster 2 

postman 3 

postpone 4 

pound 27 

pour 3 

practically 8 

practise 27 

prairie 2 

pray 3 

prayer 16 

preach 14 

preacher 9 

precinct 2 

precious 3 

prefer 9 


[II 

IV 

V 

VI 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

III 

c 

2 

II 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

III 

3 

III 

II 

AC 

3 

III 

3 

III 

1 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

III 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

c 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

II 

A 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

III 

III 

c 

3 

III 

1 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

3 

II 

c 

3 

III 

III 

III 

3 

IV 

I 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

3 

IV 

II 

A 

204    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I  II 

prejudice 2 

preliminary 6 

preparation 6 

preparatory 3 

prescription 3 

presence 3 

preserve 4 

preside 4 

president 11 

presidential 2 

press 15 

presumably 2 

presume 12 

pretend 4 

prevent 7 

previous 5 

previously 2 

pride 6 

primary 7 

principal 9 

print 4 

private 10 

privilege 6 

prize 14 

probable 5 

problem 8 

proceed 3 

prod 2 

produce 3 

professional 2 

profit 2 

program 18 

progressive 3 

promenade 5 

promptly 2 

pronounce 3 

proper 9 

properly 5 

property 4 

propitious 2 

proportion 2 

propose 2 

proposition 8 

prospect 4 

protect 2 

proud 14 

prove 13 

provide 6 


III 

IV 

V         VI 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

3 

III 

II             A 

III 

2 

III 
III 

III            c 

1 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

II 

3 

III 

II 

2 

IV 

IV          AC 

3 

III 

II          AC 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

1 

III 

2 

III 

II 

3 

III 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

1 

III 

3 

III 

2 

III 

II 

2 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

IV           c 

2 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

WORD   LISTS  305 


I  II 

provoke 2 

public 11 

publish 2 

pudding 14 

puff 4 

pug 2 

pullman 10 

pulse 6 

pump 9 

pumpkin 2 

punish 2 

pupil 18 

purchase 6 

pure 4 

purpose 4 

push 2 

puzzle 4 

quarrel 9 

quart 19 

quartet 4 

queen 6 

queer 7 

quest 2 

quickly 3 

quietly 5 

quilt 6 

quinine 3 

race 5 

rack 7 

radiator 2 

rag 13 

rail 4 

railroad 7 

railway 2 

rainy 16 

raisin 3 

rake 5 

rally 3 

ranch 7 

range 11 

rapid 4 

rapidly 8 

rate 17 

ravine 2 

raw ; 2 

razor d 

readiness 3 

rear 2 


[II 

IV 

V 

VI 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

II 

A 

2 

III 

A 

2 

III 

2 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

II 

3 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

2 

III 

II 

2 

IV 

IV 

c 

3 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

c 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

III 

3 

IV 

III 

c 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

1 

III 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

II 

c 

IV 

IV 

2 

II 

IV 

3 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

2 

III 

II 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2o6    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I  II 

reasonable 8 

receipt 8 

recent 2 

recently 8 

reception 8 

recess 7 

recital 2 

recognize 3 

recollect 2 

recommend 3 

recommendation 4 

record 7 

recover 6 

reduce 4 

refer 6 

reference 6 

reBt 2 

refreshment 6 

refund 2 

refuse 8 

regain 2 

register 10 

regret 4 

regular 26 

regularly 7 

rejoice 2 

relate 4 

relation 6 

relative 6 

release 2 

relief 5 

relieve 19 

religious 4 

relish 2 

remainder 2 

remark 7 

remedy 5 

remembrance 3 

remind 9 

remodel 3 

remove 6 

renew 2 

renter 2 

repair 6 

repay 3 

repeat 4 

repetition 2 

reply 14 


III 


IV 


VI 


3 

III 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

AC 

2 

IV 

IV 

A 

III 

III 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

A 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

II 

1 

III 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

II 

A 

2 

III 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

A 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

III 

III 

3 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

III 

IV 

1 

III 
III 

II 

2 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

C 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

II 

AC 

WORD   LISTS  207 


I  II 

represent 6 

representative 3 

republican 3 

require 6 

reset 4 

residence 6 

resident 2 

resign 11 

resort 2 

respect 12 

respectable 4 

tesponsibility 7 

Restaurant 17 

restful 2 

restless 7 

result 12 

retire 5 

reunion 9 

reverend 5 

reverse 4 

review 6 

rheumatic 5 

rheumatism 19 

ribbon 9 

rice 5 

rid 4 

rig 3 

rip 6 

rise 11 

river 12 

roar 6 

roast 6 

rob 3 

rocky 2 

roller 2 

roomer 3 

root 3 

rope 4 

rose 6 

rosy 2 

rough 12 

round 20 

route 8 

row 12 

royal 7 

rub 13 

rubber 6 

ruffle 7 


[II 

IV 

V 

VI 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

A 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

II 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

2 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

III 
III 

III 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

3 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

1 

III 

3 

III 

II 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

III 

II 

c 

2 

III 

III 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

II 

3 

IV 

III 

2 

II 

IV 

2 

III 

c 

2 

III 

2o8    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I  IT 

rug 21 

ruin 2 

rule 9 

runner 6 

rush 13 

sack 2 

sacred 2 

sacrifice 2 

sad 7 

sadly 2 

safely 8 

sail 17 

sailor 4 

saint 2 

sake 11 

salad 9 

salary 14 

sale 9 

salesman 3 

salt 17 

sample 4 

sand 3 

sandwich 4 

sanitary 4 

sarcastic 2 

sash 3 

satin 7 

satisfaction 6 

satisfactory 11 

sauce 12 

saucer 4 

scale 3 

scalp 3 

scant 2 

scar 3 

scarce 3 

scarcely 14 

scarlet 3 

scatter 3 

scenery 9 

schedule 4 

scholar 9 

scholarship 2 

science 7 

scissors 3 

scold 9 

scorch 2 

scorcher 2 


III 

IV 

V 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

II 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 
III 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

II 

3 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

III 

3 

III 

3 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

II 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

3 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

IV 

IV 

vt 


WORD   LISTS  209 


I  II 

score 12 

scout 4 

scramble 3 

scrap 6 

scrape 2 

scraper 2 

scratch 2 

scream 4 

screen 4 

scribble : 3 

scrub 10 

sea 15 

seal 6 

search 2 

season 23 

secret 6 

secretary 4 

section 11 

secure 12 

seed 2 

seek 3 

seldom 7 

self 6 

senior 9 

sense 9 

sentence 3 

separate 8 

6ef)arateiy 5 

serious 13 

sermon 17 

session 4 

seventeen 6 

seventh 2 

severe 6 

shade 21 

shadow 6 

shake 14 

shamefully 2 

shape 23 

share 7 

sharp 8 

shave 4 

shed 2 

sheet 19 

shelf 3 

shell.... 2 

shine 13 

ship 12 


III 

IV 

V 

VI 

2 

III 

II 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

c 

3 

III 

II 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

II 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

A 

1 

III 

III 

2 

III 

III 

AC 

3 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

3 

III 

III 

c 

3 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

A 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

II 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

III 

3 

II 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

III 

c 

2IO    THE    CHILD    AND  *  HIS    SPELLING 


I  II 

shirt 34 

shock 8 

shoe 32 

shoot 5 

shore 7 

shortly 10 

shoulder 12 

shout 2 

shove 3 

shower -12 

shrink 2 

shudder 2 

shut 4 

sickness 10 

sideboard 2 

sidewalk 3 

sightseeing 10 

signature 2 

silent 2 

silly 17 

silver 12 

silverware 2 

similar 6 

simple 6 

simply 11 

sin 2 

sing 31 

single 10 

sink 6 

sir 10 

sirup 7 

situate 5 

sixteen 13 

sixth 2 

skate 4 

skim 3 

skimp 2 

skin 11 

skip 2 

sky 3 

slap 3 

slave 2 

sleeper 5 

sleepy 16 

sleet 2 

sleeve 24 

sleigh 7 

hlice Q 


[II 

IV 

V 

VI 

1 

II 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

III 

3 

II 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

II 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

III 

IV 

c 

1 

III 
III 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

A 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

III 
III 

IV 

AC 

3 

III 

III 

2 

III 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

A 

3 

III 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

II 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 
III 

1 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

1 

III 

2 

II 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

WORD   LISTS  211 

T  II            III         IV            V        VI 

slick 3 

slide 7 

slight 7 

slightly 2 

sling 2 

slip 15 

slipper 12 

slow 8 

slowly 3 

slumber 2 

smart 16 

smell 6 

smile 5 

smooth 4 

snake 2 

snap 3 

sneeze 9 

soak 5 

soap 7 

sober 2 

sociable 2 

social 26 

socialist 3 

society 14 

sock 7 

soda 2 

sofa 7 

soft 17 

soil 6 

soldier 6 

sole 8 

solid 2 

solo 2 

solution 2 

solve 4 

somebody 8 

somehow 3 

somewhat 18 

somewhere 11 

song 25 

soreness 6 

sorrow 4 

soul 17 

soup 11 

sour 2 

source 2 

southern 13 

space 4 


1 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

A 

2 

III 

II 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

2 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

1 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

AC 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

3 

III 

II 

1 

III 

3 

III 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

II 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

IV 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

c 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

IV 

IV 

III 

III 

III 

2 

III 

III 

AC 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

c 

3 

III 

3 

III 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

212    THE   CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I  II 

span 2 

spare 14 

speaker 6 

specialist 2 

speech 6 

spick 2 

spirit 8 

spit 4 

spite 6 

splendid 6 

spoon 5 

sfKjrt 7 

spout 2 

spread 15 

sprinkle 12 

squabble 2 

square 33 

squarely 2 

squeeze 11 

stable 4 

stack 3 

stag 4 

stage 3 

stain 2 

stalk 2 

stamp 9 

standard 7 

star 7 

starve 4 

statement 6 

station 24 

stationery 2 

statistics 2 

steadily 4 

steady 2 

steak 13 

steal 4 

steam 6 

steamer 15 

steel 2 

steep 3 

stenographer 3 

stew 5 

stiff 4 

sting 8 

stingy 4 

stir » 6 

stitch 6 


III 

IV 

V 

VI 

1 

III 

1 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

III 

3 

III 
III 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

c 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

III 

A 

3 

III 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 
III 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

8 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

A 

2 

IV 

II 

2 

IV 

III 

c 

3 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

A 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

HI 

IV 

c 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

c 

3 

IV 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

III 

WORD    LISTS  213 

I  II          III       IV          V       VI 

stomach 23 

stone 9 

stool 3 

stoop 3 

storage 5 

storm 15 

stormy 3 

straight 15 

straighten 9 

strain 8 

strange 25 

strap 3 

straw 9 

streak 2 

strength 6 

strenuous 6 

stretch 3 

string 9 

strip 3 

stroll 6 

strongly 4 

struggle 4 

stubborn 2 

stump 3 

stunt 7 

stupid 3 

stylish 6 

subject 16              2           III           III          AC 

submit 3 

substantial 2 

substitute 3 

suburb 3 

succeed 15 

successful 11 

succession 2 

sudden 6 

suddenly 3 

suffer 20 

sufficient 3 

sufficiently 4 

sugar 8 

sup;gestion 3 

suite 2 

sum 4 

sunny 6 

sunshine 8 

superintendent 9 

superior 6 


III 

IV 

V 

3 

II 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

1 

III 

2 

III 

III 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

II 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

II 

3 

III 

II 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

II 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

III 

3 

III 
III 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

III 

IV 

II 

1 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

3 

III 

III 

2 

II 

III 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

1 

III 

11 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

:i4    THE   CHILD   AND   HIS    SPELLING 


I  II 

supplement 2 

supply 4 

support 2 

surely 38 

surround 4 

suspect 4 

swallow 3 

sweat 14 

sweater 7 

sweep 24 

sweeper 2 

sweetness 3 

swell 16 

swim 6 

swing 10 

swipe 2 

switch 4 

sympathize 2 

sympathy 7 

system 9 

tabernacle 3 

tablet 4 

tack 3 

tackle 3 

tact 3 

tag 2 

tail 7 

tailor 3 

talker 2 

tall 5 

tan 16 

tank 3 

tape 4 

tart 2 

task 2 

tax 3 

taxicab 3 

tea 29 

teakettle 2 

team 27 

teapot 6 

tear 17 

tease 3 

teaspoon 2 

telegram 14 

telegraph 3 

telephone 15 

temperance 2 


III 

IV 

V 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

1 

II 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

II 

3 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

II 
III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

II 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

3 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

II 

IV 

3 

III 
III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

1 

III 

2 

III 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

III 

IV 

3 

III 
III 

IV 

3 

III 
III 

III 

3 

III 

III 

3 

III 
III 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

III 

III 

3 

IV 

IV 

VI 


WORD   LISTS  215 


I  II 

temperature 5 

temple 8 

tempt 7 

temptation 5 

tenci 3 

tendency 4 

tender 5 

tenement 3 

tennis 2 

tenor 2 

tent 16 

tenth 3 

term 7 

terribly 8 

test 13 

text 7 

thankful . 10 

thanksgiving 6 

theater 10 

themselves 12 

thereabouts 3 

therefore 10 

thermometer 3 

thirteen 8 

thorough 4 

thousand 6 

thread 2 

thresh 2 

throat 14 

throughout 2 

thumb 4 

thunder 6 

thus 7 

tickle 6 

tidy 2 

tie 12 

tile 10 

timid 2 

tinker 3 

tiny 3 

tip 5 

tiresome 3 

toast 6 

toilet 2 

tomato 9 

tombstone 2 

ton 4 

tone 6 


ni 

IV 

V 

VI 

2 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

II 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

II 

IV 

c 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

III 
III 

II 

1 

III 

II 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

2 

III 

c 

2 

III 

III 

c 

3 

III 

c 

2 

III 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

II 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

3 

II 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

1 

III 

3 

III 

2 

III 
III 

IV 

3 

III 

3 

III 

3 

II 
III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

2i6    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I  II 

tongue 7 

tool 2 

toot 14 

tooth 21 

torture 2 

total 4 

touch 12 

tour 3 

toward 18 

towel 14 

tower 3 

toy 3 

trace 2 

track 11 

trade 7 

traffic 2 

tramp 2 

transfer 8 

travel 24 

traveler 4 

treatment 11 

trial 11 

tribe 2 

trick 4 

trifle 6 

trim 9 

triumph 3 

trolley 5 

trot 2 

true 31 

truly 8 

trust 10 

truth 13 

tub 5 

luck 4 

tune 3 

tunic 2 

turkey 10 

twelfth 2 

twin 4 

twist 2 

type 3 

typewriter 5 

typhoid 4 

ugly 3 

umbrella 5 

unable -4 

unanimous 2 


III 

IV 

V 

VI 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

II 

c 

3 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

III 

c 

1 

III 

3 

III 

II 

AC 

3 

III 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

c 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

III 

3 

III 

II 

c 

3 

IV 

IV 

c 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

c 

2 

IV 

III 

AC 

2 

II 

A 

2 

III 

III 

c 

1 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

2 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

AC 

2 

III 

.WORD   LISTS  ai7 

I  II          III        IV          V       VI 

unbearable 2 

uncomfortable 8 

undershirt 3 

undertake 4 

underwear 16 

undo 4 

undress 7 

uneasy 2 

unfinished 2 

union 17 

unlikely 2 

unload 3 

unlock 2 

unnecessary 2 

unpack 4 

unpleasant 6 

unreasonable ,....  2 

unusual 5 

unusually 2 

unwise 2 

upset 3 

urge 4 

unne 2 

useful 10 

useless 4 

usually 17 

utter 2 

vacant 4 

vague 2 

valley 16 

valuable 4 

value 7 

variety 4 

various 8 

varnish 2 

vary : . . .  4 

vaudeville 2 

veal 3 

vegetable 9 

vegetation 2 

velvet 6 

ventilate 2 

ventilation 2 

verse 4 

vessel 8 

vest 4 

via 3 

vice 2 


III 

IV 

V 

III 

III 

III 

III 

1 

IV 

III 

III 

IV 

III 

IV 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

III 

III 

IV 

III 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

IV 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 
III 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

III 
III 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

3 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

IV 

II 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2i8    THE   CHILD   AND   HIS    SPELLING 


I  II 

victrola 2 

vigor 3 

vinegar 4 

violin 7 

visitor 8 

voice 11 

volume 9 

vomit 7 

vote 25 

wage 5 

wagon 4 

wake 15 

waken 7 

wander 6 

war 7 

warmly 3 

warn 5 

wave 4 

weak 17 

weakness 2 

wealth 4 

wealthy 3 

weave 2 

wed 16 

weed 2 

weekly 9 

weigh 31 

weight 5 

welcome 16 

western 7 

wet 16 

wheel 11 

whenever 8 

whereby 3 

wherever 8 

whimper 2 

whip 5 

whiskers 3 

whisper 4 

whistle 3 

whoever 3 

wholly 4 

wide 7 

widow 4 

width 4 

wiggle 2 

wild 9 

windmill 2 


HI 

IV 

V 

VI 

IV 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

III 

c 

3 

IV 

III 

III 

A 

2 

III 

II 

c 

3 

III 

c 

3 

III 

c 

1 

III 

III 

c 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

c 

1 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

IV 

c 

III 

c 

1 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

IV 

IV 

1 

III 

III 

3 

III 

1 

III 

3 

III 

IV 

3 

III 

c 

3 

III 

II 

2 

III 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

3 

III 

III 

c 

1 

III 

IV 

IV 

III 

1 

III 

IV 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

IV 

IV 

III 

2 

IV 

IV 

3 

III 

1 

IV 

IV 

2 

IV 

III 

2 

III 

IV 

c 

1 

III 

c 

3 

III 

IV 

IV 

IV 

2 

III 

III 

1 

III 

WORD   LISTS  219 

I  n        m      IV        V      VI 

windy 7  III  IV 

wipe 5  2  III 

wire 8  2  III  III 

wireless 4  III 

wisdom 3  2  IV  IV             C 

wise 9  2  III  IV             C 

within 6  1  III  IV             C 

wonderfully 6  1  III  IV 

wood 17  3  III  III             C 

woodwork 2  IV  IV 

wool 4  3    .       Ill 

worthless 2  IV  IV 

worthy 6  2  III 

wrap 6  3  III  III 

wreck 3  3  III  IV 

wring 3  3  III  IV 

writer 2  III 

yeast 3  3  III                            C 

yell 8  1  III  IV 

yoke..     9  2  III  IV 

youngster 6  III  III 

zero 3  1  III 

Lack  of  space  forbids  the  presentation  of  List 
IV,  but  its  general  character  is  revealed  by  the 
statement  that  eighteen  hundred  four  of  its  two 
thousand  two  hundred  thirty  words  occur  only  once. 
This  is  thirty-four  and  sixty-nine  hundredths  per 
cent,  of  five  thousand  two  hundred  words,  the  total 
of  the  four  lists.  Ayres  found  the  closely  similar 
figure  of  thirty-seven  and  fifty-three  hundredths 
per  cent,  for  the  proportion  of  vocabulary  occurring 
but  once. 

In  the  two  hundred  thousand  running  words  thus 

tallied,  a  total  of  twelve  hundred  nine  different 

_»  proper   names   occurred,   with   a 

Proper  names  r     r 

in  the  corre-  combined  frequency  of  about  nine 

spondencc  thousand    seven    hundred    forty. 


220    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

In  tallying  proper  names,  terms  which  were 
identical  in  spelling  except  for  a  final  s,  such  as 
Steven  and  Stevens,  William  and  Williams,  etc., 
were  accounted  a  single  word  instead  of  two.  All 
nicknames,  pet  diminutives,  and  spellings  based  on 
personal  predilection  were  reduced  to  the  standard 
orthography.  The  envelope  addresses  were  consid- 
ered as  far  as  they  came  into  the  writers'  hands, 
since  nothing  in  the  matter  of  correct  spelling  is 
more  germane  to  efficiency  than  the  address,  as  our 
Dead  Letter  Office  shows.  The  inclusion  of  ad- 
dresses, the  relationship  of  certain  correspondents 
to  one  another,  and  the  much  greater  volume  of 
correspondence  from  certain  persons  than  from 
others,  accounts  for  the  unusual  frequency  of  some 
names.  The  same  plan  of  division  into  four  lists,  as 
outlined  above,  has  been  followed  with  the  proper 
names,  but  the  columns  showing  sex  differences 
(IV  and  V)  have  been  eliminated  because  they 
yield  data  so  meager  as  to  be  non-significant.  As 
presented  below.  Lists  II  and  III  have  been  purged 
of  the  following  classes  of  names  for  an  obvious  rea- 
son: All  towns  of  less  than  10,000  inhabitants, 
all  strictly  local  publications,  organizations  and 
streets;  and  all  family  names,  except  those  of  his- 
toric characters,  or  of  men  in  the  public  eye.  This 
elimination  decreased  List  II  only  slightly,  but  re- 
duced List  III  over  a  third. 


WORD   LISTS 


221 


LIST  I 

I    WORD 
Saturday    199 


LIST   II 
30   WORDS    (33    WORDS    BEFORE   ELIMINATION) 


August    49  3    A 

Charles    184  1 

Chicago    85  2 

Christmas    133  3    A 

December    34  3    A 

Ella    112 

Fannie    15 

Friday    188  1    A 

Hamilton   91 

Harry   28  1 

Hepsy   230 

Illinois    137  3 

January    36  2     A 

July   20  2    A 

June    27  2     A 


Madison   169 

May  ; 42  1 

Miss    113 

Monday   150  1 

November    Zl  2 

October    44  3 

Ralph    124  1 

St.  Paul  22 

September   60  2 

Sunday   311  2 

Thursday  98  3 

Tuesday   135  2 

Wednesday    101  3 

William(s)    433  1 

Wisconsin    128  2 


A 
A 
A 
A 
A 


LIST    III 
197  WORDS   (312  WORDS  BEFORE  ELIMINATION) 


Adam   4 

Albert    3     1 

Albuquerque   5 

Alfred    20     1 

Alice    100     1 

Allen   2 

Allie    4 

American  28    1 

April    15    2    A 

Arthur    4    1 

Avis 21 

Baptist   6    2 

Belleville   2 

Bible  4    1 

Blanche    2 

Boston    2    1 


Bryan   6 

Burlington  2 

Byron   2 

California    42    2 

Canada  2    1 

Canterbury    2     1 

Carl   7 

Catholic   12    2 

Champaign    48 

Chesapeake   2    1 

Chinatown  2 

Christian   16    2 

Claude   8 

Colorado   17    1 

Columbus 4    1 

Congregational    ...  2 


222    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


Coronado  5    1 

Daisy    3 

Daniel  17    1 

Danville 54 

Davis 4 

Delos  6 

Donald   8    1 

Dora  S 

Dorothy  41 

Drake   3 

Easter  9 

Edna  3 

Edward   25     1 

Eleanor    3 

Eliza  9 

Elizabeth   19    1 

Ellen  13    1 

Elmer  2 

Emma  7     1 

England   20    2 

English  16    2 

Episcopal  8    1 

Epworth  6 

Ethel  2 

Etta  27 

Europe 4    3 

Evan  2 

Everett  2 

February    14    3     A 

Florence  11     1 

Florida  14    1 

France   11     1 

Frances    5    1 

Francis  8    1 

Fred    4    1 

French   12     1 

Frenchman   2 

Gabriel   8 

Gene   4 

George  30    3 

Georgia 14    2 

German 18    1 

Glasgow  5     1 

God  45    1 

Grace   32    1 

Hallowe'en 3     1 

Harold   14    1 

Harvey  5 


Hattie  49 

Hazel    3 

Helen   199    1 

Herbert    9 

Howard   4 

Huldah  21 

Indiana  7    3 

Indianapolis   7     1 

Iowa  5    2 

Irishman    2 

Italian  6    2 

Italy   5    2 

Jack 5    1 

Jackson   15 

Jacob 2    1 

James   3    1 

Jessie    36    1 

Jewish    2 

John    15     1 

Johnson    4 

Joliet    4    1 

Joseph    76    1 

Julia   47 

Kansas    21     1 

Kate   54    1 

Katharine    8    1 

Kenneth   6 

Latin    8 

Lee   3 

Lincoln    4    2 

Lloyd    5     1 

Logan   4 

Lois    4 

Lola    3 

London    39    2 

Lord    3 

Loring    15 

Los  Angeles 12    1 

Lottie    11 

Louis    169 

Lucy  32    1 

Lutheran    3 

March    20    2    A 

Margaret    12 

Marion   12 

Mary  9    2 

Mason    16 

Matthew   5 


WORD   LISTS 


223 


Maud   6 

Methodist   9    1 

Mexican    2 

Michigan    2     1 

Milan   2 

Milwaukee    14    2 

Minneapolis    6    1 

Minnesota   28    1 

Minnie   6    1 

Mississippi    4    2 

Missouri    10    2 

Mitchell   12 

Mollie    12 

Mormon  3 

Morris    8 

Nancy  4 

Nebraska  3     1 

Ned  6    1 

Nellie   6 

Nevada    3     1 

New  York 17    2 

Northwestern  5 

Oakland   5 

Ohio    4    1 

Oliver  2 

Omaha   6    1 

Oregon    4    1 


Ottawa   11 

Pacific    7 

Pansy    313 

Pasadena   3 

Paul    3 

Pennsylvania    2 

Perry    22 

Peter    7 

Presbyterian    3 


Prince    S     1 

Raymond   5 

Robert    3     1 

Rome    3    2 

Roosevelt  7 

Rose   10 

Rosecrans   2 

Roy   9    1 

Ruth    61    1 

Sacramento  11 

Samuel  4    1 

Sampson    4 

San  Diego 43 

San  Francisco 20 

Santa  Claus  S     1 

Santa  Fe  2 

Sheridan    3 

Spencer    3 

Springfield    7 

Stanley  20 

Stella    7 

Susan  41    1 

Swiss    2 

Taft    8 

Tennessee    2    1 

Terre  Haute 6 

Texas   13 

Thanksgiving   27 

Theodore  IS 

Thomas   4 

Titanic   3 

Walter   9 

Washington    23    2 

Wilson    17 

Yellowstone   2 


A  presentation  of  List  IV  of  the  proper  names 
will  be  unnecessary.  Of  eight  hundred  sixty-two 
names  found  in  it,  five  hundred  forty-four 
occur  but  once ;  and  the  vast  majority  are  mere  local 
names  of  families,  or  given  names  more  or  less  un- 
common. Only  one  hundred  one  of  the  five  hun- 
dred forty-four  are  found  in  any  of  the  spellers. 


224    THE   CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

Since  each  of  the  three  spellers  consulted  con- 
tained one  or  more  special  lessons  on  foreign  terms 

S  t  t  b  1  -  "^^  ^^^  ^^^y  ^"^^y  naturalized  in 
tion  of  foreign  American  speech,  a  special  list  of 
^^^^^  these  terms  was  kept  separate  as 

they  occurred  in  the  correspondence.  Thirteen  such 
words  occurred  with  a  total  frequency  of  fifteen. 
Elite  alone  occurred  more  than  once.  Only  six  of 
the  thirteen  were  found  in  any  of  the  spellers. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

SPELLING    TEXTS    AND    SPELLING    NEEDS 

LET  US  first  examine  the  word  lists  of  the  three 
y  spellers  previously  referred  to,  and  see  in  how 
far  the  ordinary  text  meets  the  requirements  in  re- 
Vocabularies  of  spect  to  a  spelling  vocabulary. 
spelling-books  The  relation  of  the  vocabularies 

of  the  three  texts,  excluding  proper  names  and  for- 
eign terms,  is  as  follows : 

Speller  Speller  Speller 
ABC 

143       5,785  1,082 
633          633 

132        ....  132 

3,101  3,101 

1,613        1,613  1,613 


Words  found  in  one  text  only 

Words  found  in  Spellers  A  and  B. 
Words  found  in  Spellers  A  and  C. 
Words  found  in  Spellers  B  and  C. 
Words  found  in  all  three  texts.... 


Total  for  each  text 2,521      11,132       5,928 

Total  of  different  words  for  all  texts,  12,489. 

The  variation  among  these  books  with  respect  to 
extent  of  spelling  vocabulary  indicates  that  the  mak- 
ers of  spelling-books  differ  in  their  opinions  as 
widely  as  have  the  educators  whose  estimates  have 
already  been  cited  in  Chapter  IX.  Not  only  in  re- 
gard to  total  number  of  words  are  there  striking 
differences,  but  also  in  regard  to  community  of 

225 


226    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

vocabulary.  Though  Speller  A  has  less  than  forty- 
three  per  cent,  of  the  vocabulary  of  C,  hardly  sev- 
enty per  cent,  of  the  list  is  the  same  as  C's.  That 
is,  the  chances  of  finding  any  given  word  of  A*s  vo- 
cabulary in  C  are  less  than  seven  in  ten.  Conversely, 
the  chance  of  finding  any  given  v^^ord  of  C's  vocab- 
ulary in  A  is  less  than  three  in  ten.  Of  the  total 
twelve  thousand,  four  hundred  eighty-nine  different 
words,  only  sixteen  hundred  thirteen,  or  less 
than  thirteen  per  cent.,  are  common  to  all  the 
spellers. 

If  the  lists  of  the  spelling-books  be  tested  by  the 

lists  secured  from  the  correspondents,  it  develops 

that   four   thousand,   three  hun- 

cabularies°of^  "       ^^^^  fifty-one  different  words,  or 

spellers  and  only  thirty-five  per  cent,  of  the 

correspondents  ,  ,  •      t      i 

total,  ever  appeared  m  the  letters. 

To  determine  the  extent  to  which  the  judgments  of 
the  three  authors  united  was  more  reliable  than  the 
judgment  of  any  one  author,  the  one  thousand,  six 
hundred  thirteen  words  common  to  the  three  texts 
were  followed  out  in  the  correspondence.  Seventy 
per  cent,  of  these  appeared  in  the  correspondence — 
twice  as  large  a  proportion  as  for  the  total  twelve 
thousand,  four  hundred  eighty-nine  words.  How- 
ever, it  would  seem  that  so  short  a  list  as  sixteen 
hundred  thirteen,  if  at  all  well  chosen,  should 
be  represented  by  much  more  than  seventy  per  cent, 
of  its  strength  among  the  five  thousand,  two  hun- 
dred different  words  of  the  correspondence.    Fur- 


TEXTS    AND    NEEDS  227 

thermore,  one  would  normally  expect  that  this 
seventy  per  cent,  (eleven  hundred  thirty-six 
words)  would  fall  most  heavily  in  List  I  (see  page 
157),  less  heavily  in  List  II  (see  page  161),  and 
not  to  any  large  extent  in  List  IV.  However,  they 
were  distributed  as  follows: 

51  fell  in  List  I,  constituting  27.4%  of  said  list 
193  fell  in  List  II,  constituting  33.4%  of  said  list 
620  fell  in  List  III,  constituting  28.1%  of  said  list 
272  fell  in  List  IV,  constituting  12.2%  of  said  list 

Clearly  then,  the  spellers  examined  have  not  placed 
emphasis  where  it  is  most  needed. 

Passing  now  to  the  proper  names  listed  in  the 
spellers,  one  finds  a  still  greater  lack  of  harmony. 

Speller  Speller  Speller 
ABC 

Words  found  in  one  text  only 167  53  177 

Words  found  in  Spellers  A  and  B 13  13 

Words  found  in  Spellers  A  and  C 41  ...  41 

Words  found  in  Spellers  B  and  C 24  24 

Words  found  in  all  three  texts 25  25  25 

Total  for  each  text 246         115         267 

Total  different  words  for  all  texts,  500. 

Speller  B,  with  a  general  vocabulary  about  twice  as 
great  as  C's,  and  four  times  as  great  as  A's,  has  less 
than  one-half  as  many  proper  names  as  either  of 
the  others.  Only  five  per  cent,  of  the  total  of  five 
hundred  proper  names  are  common  to  all  three 
spellers,  and  only  twenty-one  per  cent,  show  any 
degree  of  community.  As  far  as  one  may  general- 
ize from  these  three  spellers,  the  chances  of  finding 


228    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

the  same  proper  name  in  two  spellers  picked  up  at 
random  ranges  from  sixteen  in  one  hundred  to 
forty-two  in  one  hundred.  If  it  were  desirable  so 
to  do,  curious  differences  might  be  pointed  out, 
showing  a  tendency  of  one  book  to  "specialize"  in 
American  geography,  and  another  in  foreign  geog- 
raphy and  history,  or  perchance  in  Christian  names. 
Two  hundred  sixty-nine  of  these  five  hundred 
proper  names  do  not  appear  at  all  in  the  list  of 
twelve  hundred  nine  proper  names  found  in  the 
correspondence,  and  five  of  the  twenty-five  com- 
mon to  all  the  spellers  were  among  these  two  hun- 
dred sixty-nine. 

But  the  climax  of  disparities  between  the  texts 
is  seen  in  the  lists  of  foreign  terms  found  in  the 
spelling-books.    They  tabulate  as  follows : 

Speller   Speller   Speller 
ABC 

Words  found  in  one  text  only 12  62  24 

Words  found  in  Spellers  A  and  B 2  2 

Words  found  in  Spellers  A  and  C 4  ..  4 

Words  found  in  Spellers  B  and  C 6  6 

Total  for  each  text 18  70  34 

Total  different  words  for  all  texts,  110, 

Not  a  single  term  was  common  to  all  the  texts,  and 
less  than  eleven  per  cent,  of  the  total  showed  any 
degree  of  community.  Only  six  of  the  whole  one 
hundred  ten  appeared  in  the  correspondence; 
nor  were  any  of  these  six  among  the  twelve  found 
in  more  than  one  speller.     Had  the  compilers  of 


TEXTS    AND    NEEDS  229 

these  books  taken  words  at  random  from  a  French 
dictionary  their  offerings  could  hardly  have  been 
less  related  to  the  pupil's  needs. 

But  if  a  complete  inventory  be  taken  of  the  data 
of  the  last  chapter,  we  must  go  further  than  to  say 
Limitations  of  that   the   spellers   contain   a  vast 

any  speller  amount  of  useless  material.    They 

have  failed  to  some  extent  to  include  the  necessary 
words,  as  the  following  table  shows : 

WORDS   FOUND  IN   NONE  OF   THE  SPELLERS 

General. 

List      I — I   (in). 

List  II — II  (anyway,  azv fully,  crazy,  every ' 
thing,  job,  lately,  maybe,  pa,  per,  sick, 
silk  ) . 

List  III — 202  (the  type  is  shown  by  such  as  the 
following:  adverbs,  e.  g.,  absolutely; 
nouns  on  verb  stems,  e.  g.,  alteration, 
announcement;  unusual  compounds,  e. 
g.,  afire,  apiece;  verbs  on  adjective 
stems,  e.  g.,  straighten;  compounds  of 
simple  words,  e.  g.,  miywhere,  bed- 
time; prefixes  in  in-  and  un-,  e.  g., 
inland,  unsatisfactory ) . 

List  IV — 625   (many  of  the  same  type  as  for 
List  III,  though  the  number  of  new 
stems  is  larger). 
Proper. 

List    II  (after  elimination) — 7  out  of  30. 

List  III   (after  elimination) — 99  out  of  197. 

List  IV— 761  out  of  862. 

Foreign  terms — y  out  of  13. 


230    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

From  such  an  exhibit  it  might  seem  that  our 
spellers  should  be  larger  rather  than  smaller.  Every- 
one of  the  thirteen  correspondents  referred  to  in 
Chapter  X  contributed  in  varying  amounts  to  the 
two  thousand,  two  hundred  thirty  words  of  List 
IV.  There  seemed  to  be  on  the  part  of  every  per- 
son a  specific  demand  for  words  not  used  by  any 
of  the  other  twelve.  This  being  true,  it  becomes 
evident  that  no  speller  can  fill  the  need  of  individ- 
uals completely.  In  view  of  the  plastic  state  of  our 
language,  with  the  constant  accretion  of  words  from 
various  sources  and  the  decadence  of  standard 
words  so  that  they  become  obsolescent  or  obsolete, 
the  unabridged  dictionary  itself  can  not  meet  all 
possible  needs  of  every  person.  The  individual  Qb- 
viously  must  make  new  linguistic  as  well  as  other 
new  adjustments  from  time  to  time  throughout  his 
life. 

That  the  vocabularies  of  different  persons  vary 
widely  is  generally  believed ;  but  their  variation  may 
Individual  writing  "ct  be  in  any  sense  due  to  the 
vocabularies  number   of   words    people    know 

how  to  spell.  If  a  connection  of  this  sort  did 
exist,  one  might  be  justified  in  putting  such  em- 
phasis upon  spelling  as  was  the  practise  a  genera- 
tion ago.  It  has  furthermore  not  been  demon- 
strated that  the  vocabulary  of  a  liberally  educated 
person  is  wider  in  written  expression  than  that  of 
one  not  so  highly  trained.  It  was  to  shed  some  light 
upon  this  problem  that  the  extent  of  each  corre- 


TEXTS    AND    NEEDS  231 

spondent's  vocabulary  was  carefully  noted  as  far 
as  could  be  done  with  the  limited  quantity  of  corre- 
spondence. The  running  words  of  each  correspond- 
ent's letters  were  counted  off  a  thousand  at  a  time. 
A  record  was  made  of  the  number  of  different 
words  employed  on  the  first  thousand;  and  the 
number  of  new  words  introduced  in  each  succeed- 
ing thousand  was  also  recorded.  Not  less  than  five 
thousand  running  words  was  accepted  from  any 
correspondent,  since  it  was  felt  that  this  number 
was  necessary  in  order  to  gain  a  fair  idea  of  the 
extent  of  a  person's  vocabulary.  It  will  be  seen 
from  the  table  exhibiting  the  data  thus  gained  (see 
following  page)  that  no  person  fully  exhausted  his 
vocabulary;  nor,  as  already  suggested,  does  it  seem 
probable  that  any  normal  individual's  vocabulary 
could  be  exactly  ascertained  if  his  correspondence 
were  pursued  indefinitely. 

Some  interesting  revelations  are  made  by  this 
table.  N.  exceeds  in  vocabulary  her  daughter  E., 
who  has  had  at  least  twice  the  schooling  her  mother 
enjoyed.  However,  N.  notices  everything  of  a  per- 
sonal nature,  and  feels  a  keen  interest  in  people. 
E.  writes  mostly  about  herself,  and  hence  has  a 
narrower  range  of  experience  to  communicate.  H., 
another  daughter,  only  slightly  exceeded  N.  in  vo- 
cabulary used  at  the  end  of  five  thousand  running 
words.  At  the  end  of  twelve  thousand  running 
words  S.  exceeded  both  her  adult  college-educated 
children,  P.  and  W.    In  neither  spelling  capacity 


232    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 


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TEXTS    AND    NEEDS  233 

nor  reading  vocabulary  is  there  any  comparison  to 
be  made  between  her  children  and  herself;  but  S. 
is  a  wide  reader,  and  has  acquired  rather  cosmo- 
politan interests.  It  could  hardly  need  plainer  dem- 
onstration than  these  two  instances  afford  that  writ- 
ing vocabulary  is  dependent,  not  on  spelling  ability 
or  formal  education,  so  much  as  on  largeness  of 
view  and  breadth  of  interest,  which  in  many  cases 
is  favorably  affected  by  education.  Changing 
scenes  and  the  character  of  one's  correspondent 
also  affect  the  size  of  one's  vocabulary.  C.  made 
an  unusual  record  on  his  first  thousand  words, 
because  of  a  nervous  habit  of  jumping  quickly  from 
theme  to  theme  in  his  ordinary  letters.  In  his  diary 
of  domestic  and  local  happenings  he  falls  to  a  very 
common  record  on  his  second  thousand  words;  but 
thereafter  he  eclipses  all  others  in  recounting  the 
sights  and  events  of  an  extended  trip  through  the 
West.  P.,  after  falling  slightly  behind  W. 
at  twenty  thousand,  overtakes  and  easily  passes 
him  in  describing  the  experiences  of  travel 
and  of  changed  surroundings.  A.  too  has  a  very 
ordinary  record  until  she  begins  to  write  of  her 
European  tour,  when  she  quickly  shoots  ahead  of 
all  the  others.  G.  falls  sensibly  behind  O.  at  five 
thousand,  because  she,  a  graduate  student,  is  under- 
going routine  life  as  a  teacher,  while  O.,  a  high- 
school  graduate,  is  visiting  relatives  and  friends  most 
of  the  time  and  experiencing  frequent  changes  of 
scenes.     Practically  all  interruptions  in  the  descent 


234    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

of  the  number  of  vocabulary  accessions  from  thou- 
sand to  thousand  for  each  correspondent  can  be 
explained  on  the  bases  already  mentioned. 

In  the  list  published  by  Ayres,  a  total  frequency 
of  seventeen  hundred  fifty-seven  is  assigned  to 
y     b  1    ■     •         proper  names,  Mr.,  Mrs.,  I  and 

family  and  other  a,  words  not  considered  in  the 
correspondence         p^.^^^^^^   ^^^^^^      gj^^^    j^^   ^^^.^g, 

study  the  unpublished  portion  of  his  list  comprised 
twelve  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  running 
words,  it  seems  likely  that  some  two  thousand  run- 
ning words  of  his  study  (seventeen  hundred  fifty- 
seven  increased  by  twelve  per  cent.)  would  have 
been  disregarded  in  making  up  our  own  general  list. 
Put  otherwise,  he  tabulated  about  twenty-one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  running  words  according  to  our 
mode  of  reckoning  (twenty-three  thousand  six  hun- 
dred twenty-nine  decreased  by  about  two  thou- 
sand). His  published  list  of  five  hundred 
forty-two  different  words  shrinks  to  four  hundred 
sixty-seven  by  the  elimination  of  proper  names  and 
reduction  to  a  dictionary  basis.  If  the  same  per- 
centage of  shrinkage  holds  for  the  unpublished  por- 
tion of  his  list,  his  total  of  two  thousand  one 
distinct  words  shrinks  to  about  seventeen  hundred 
twenty-five. 

We  have,  then,  Ayres'  composite  vocabulary  of 
seventeen  hundred  twenty-five  in  a  total  of  twenty- 
one  thousand,  five  hundred  running  words  to  com- 
pare with  four  individual  vocabularies  in  the  pres- 


TEXTS    AND    NEEDS  235 

ent  study  (see  table  on  page  232).  At  twenty- 
one  thousand  five  hundred  A.  and  P.  were  each 
about  a  hundred  words  above  Ayres'  composite 
vocabulary,  W.  was  seventy-five  above  it,  but 
H.  had  fallen  a  long  way  behind.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  believe,  in  view  of  the  length  of  our  general 
List  IV,  that  any  ordinary  individual  could  show 
a  vocabulary  equal  to  that  gleaned  from  hundreds 
of  persons  combined,  except  by  being  placed  in  a 
situation  where  he  would  have  occasion  to  discuss 
a  greater  range  of  interests.  The  explanation  in 
this  case  is  that  family  correspondence  and  letters 
of  a  friendly  nature  call  for  more  diversified  ex- 
pression than  stereotyped  business  communications, 
however  miscellaneous  in  character. 

This  individuality  of  spelling  vocabulary,  while 
naturally  directed  somewhat  along  technical  lines 

„      ,.^  of  vocational   importance  to  the 

Sex  differences 

in  spelling  Several  writers,  is  a  more  uncer- 

vocabulary  ^^[^  quantity  in  many  ways  than 

sex  differences  in  writing  vocabulary.  All  words 
in  general  Lists  I,  II  and  III  were  inspected  in  or- 
der to  furnish  a  list  of  words  which  show  a  wide 
variation  in  use  as  between  the  sexes.  "Wide  vari- 
ation" was  construed  as  meaning  a  change  from 
List  I  of  one  sex  to  List  III  of  the  other,  from  List 
II  of  one  sex  to  List  IV  of  the  other,  from  List  III 
of  one  sex  to  non-occurrence  in  the  other,  or  any 
greater  degree  of  change.  Words  with  a  frequency 
of  only  two,  however,  were  not  taken  into  account. 


236    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

The  two  lists,  one  showing  dominance  with  the 
women,  the  other  with  the  men,  were  then  subdi- 
vided according  to  a  scheme  set  forth  below. 

WORDS  DOMINANT  IN  LETTERS  OF  WOMEN 

A.    Articles  of  food,  terms  relating  to  consump- 
tion or  preparation  thereof : 


appetite 

candy 

goose 

plum 

apple 

casserole 

grape 

pork 

bacon 

cheese 

gravy 

pudding 

bake 

chicken 

griddle 

sauce 

banana 

chocolate 

grocery 

sirup 

beef 

cook 

jelly 

soup 

berry 

cooky 

juice 

starve 

biscuit 

cracker 

lard 

stew 

boil 

cream 

milk 

stove 

bread 

custard 

orange 

toast 

breakfast 

dessert 

oven 

tomato 

burner 

fish 

oyster 

vegetable 

butter 

food 

pail 

yeast 

cabbage 

gas 

pan 

cake 

gasoline 

pear 

B.    Articles  of  wearing  apparel,  textiles,  terms 
closely  related  thereto: 


apron 

embroider 

pin 

shoe 

bead 

embroidery 

plaid 

silk 

belt 

flannel 

plait 

skirt 

braid 

fur 

plush 

sleeve 

button 

gem 

rip 

stitch 

cape 

glove 

rubber 

tape 

chain 

handkerchief 

ruffle 

tie 

cloth 

legging 

sample 

undershirt 

clothe 

mend 

sash 

velvet 

corset 

mitten 

satin 

waist 

cotton 

nightgown 

.  scissors 

wool 

cuflF 

patch 

sew 

dressmaker 

pattern 

shirt 

TEXTS    AND    NEEDS 


237 


C.    Parts  of  bendy,  care  of  same,  personal  ap- 
pearance : 


arm                     hair 
bathe                  head 
bowel                  kidney 
fat 

litnb 

neat 
nose 

stomach 

stylish 

swell 

D.    Animals : 

animal                 fish 
chicken               goose 

kitten 
moth 

mouse 

E.    Esthetics,  color: 

admire                bloom 
art                        blossom 
beautifully          disgust 
black                    gallery 

glorious 
lovely 
museum 
muss 

orange 
perfect 
tan 

F.    Diseases,  their  treatment,  concrete  sensitivity 
for  good  or  ill,  terms  closely  related  thereto : 


ache 

afraid 

aggravate 

ail 

alarm 

bronchitis 

burial 

bury 

camphor 

chill 


cough 

crazy 

cure 

dentist 

die 

dizzy 

dread 

envy 

fond 


headache 

prescription 

heal 

pulse 

horrid 

relief 

hospital 

sick 

hysterics 

swell 

lame 

tease 

medicine 

tiresome 

nervous 

vomit 

nurse 

zero 

G.    Parts  of  house,   furniture  and  furnishings: 


basement 

bathroom 

bedroom 

bowl 

closet 


cottage 

furniture 

grate 

mat 

mattress 


napkin 

pillow 

plate 

portiere 

quilt 


saucer 

spoon 

teapot 

towel 

tub 


H,    Measures : 


barrel 
bushel 


peck 
pint 


pound 
quart 


tape 
weight 


238    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


I.  Correspondence: 


envelope 
ink 


pencil 


postage 


stamp 


homelike 

housekeeper 

housework 


Other  domestic  activities  and  relationships: 

scrub 
sweep 


launder 
maid 


mop 
roomer 


Unclassified   (possible  membership  in  List  K  or 
L  indicated  in  parentheses)  : 


accommodation  contribution 


acid 

crack 

acute 

cultivate 

affectionately 

daddy 

alcohol 

dean 

alike 

description 

altitude 

detain 

anniversary 

dispose 

asleep 

draft 

assembly  (L) 

driver 

bag 

east 

baggage 

economize 

balance 

elaborate 

behave 

elsewhere 

bet 

empty 

beyond 

entirely 

bid 

errand 

birthday 

eve 

blind 

exhaust 

bottle 

farm 

bush 

fill 

caller 

firecracker 

carelessness 

fold 

carpenter 

fuss  (K) 

carriage 

game 

channel 

goodby 

Chautauqua 

goodness 

check 

greet 

chore 

grip 

circular 

ha 

companion 

handy 

connect 

harvest 

consequently 

heap 

hearty 

helper 

hilly 

hunt 

improvement 

interrupt 

jump 

kill  (K) 

knife 

launch 

law  (L) 

lively 

load 

logic 

lonely 

loop 

loose 

luck 

mass 

matron 

maybe 

memorial 

merry 

message 

missionary 

muscular 

mutilate 

nap 

naughty 

nearby 

neighbor 

noisy 


notwithstand- 
ing 
oblige 
occupant 
onto 
overdo 
package 
pad 
parcel 
phone 
pipe 
pond 
pour 
precious 
presume 
progressive 
pronounce 
puff 
quietly 
rainy 
rake 
ranch 
readiness 
remodel 
respectable 

rig 

rope 

rub 

sail 

sailor 

sale 

satisfactory 

scramble 


TEXTS    AND    NEEDS 


239 


scream 

sentence 

shoot 

sidewalk 

sink 

sixty 

skim 

slice 

slick 

smooth 

socialist  (L) 

soft 

somewhere 

spell 


sprinkle 

temperature 

unpack 

stir 

tent 

unusual 

stoop 

thankful 

vessel 

storage 

thereabouts 

wagon 

strength 

thin 

warmly 

strenuous 

thorough 

weekly 

strip 

tinker 

whistle 

stupid 

tiny 

widow 

sunny 

tour 

wind 

surely 

toy 

wipe 

tail 

trifle 

wireless 

tank 

trolley 

woman 

telegraph 

twin 

worthy 

WORDS  DOMINANT  IN   LETTERS  OF   MEN 


K.    Terms  of  aggression,  contest  and  domina- 
tion, physical  and  mental : 


argument 

defeat 

attack 

effort 

control 

fight 

convince 

force 

loss 
oppose 
permit 
solve 


struggle 
submit 
successful 
suspect 


L,    Institutional  life  and  social  organization: 

administration  convention          enroll  preside 

agency                county                inaugurate  public 

associate             customary          majority  representative 

college                discuss                member  term 

Unclassified   (possible  membership  in  Lists  A- J 
indicated  in  parentheses)  : 


above 

altogether 

descend              error 

absent 

amuse 

directly               especially 

absolutely 

assure 

dismiss               fact 

accept 

attend 

dismissal             favor 

add 

await 

dividend             feature 

admit 

civil 

drift                   final 

advantage 

danger 

earn                   follow 

agreeable  (F) 

definitely 

education            fourth 

aid 

deny 

encouragement  geography 

240    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 


guilty 

literature 

physiology 

service 

guy 

mention 

portion 

shadow  (E) 

harmony 

method 

practise 

standard 

honor 

naturally 

prefer 

stenographer 

hopeful 

nature 

probable 

suddenly 

human 

necessary 

proceed 

sufficient 

impress 

occur 

prod 

term 

inconven- 

offend (F) 

produce 

thus 

ience  (F) 

opera 

recess 

trust 

increase 

outrage  (F) 

refer 

upon 

injury  (F) 

personal 

reference 

value 

instance 

personality 

religious 

violin 

intrude 

personally 

reply 

wage  (s) 

kindly 

pet 

reverse 

SUMMARY  OF   SEX   DOMINANCE 


List  Women   Men 

A 58 

B   50 

C  13 

D 7 

E  15            I 

F   37            5 

G 20 

H 8 

I    5 

J    9 

K 2 

L  3 

Unclassified    183 

Total   410         128 

Deduct  counted  twice 6 

True  total    404         128 


16 
16 
90 


Probably  no  two  persons  could  agree  that  all  words 
have  been  properly  assigned  in  these  lists  on  sex 


TEXTS    AND    NEEDS  341 

difference,  inasmuch  as  a  certain  term  may  be  used 
in  a  variety  of  situations.  Thus  it  happens  that 
some  words  occur  in  two  lists.  Only  three  or 
four  of  the  eight  women  correspondents  were  at 
the  time  of  their  writing  carrying  heavy  domestic 
responsibilities,  so  it  may  be  inferred  that  general 
social  conditions,  if  not  heredity,  have  impressed 
certain  traits  upon  femininity,  and  thus  established 
a^ort  of  feminine  type  of  spelling  vocabulary.  Lists 
K  and  L  are  likewise  in  harmony  with  contempo- 
rary sociological,  psychological  and  biological  re- 
search and  theory,  in  pointing  out  a  masculine  type, 
though  the  totals  for  sex  dominance  show  that  the 
feminine  type  is  much  more  homogeneous  than  the 
masculine,  another  fact  which  is  in  harmony  with 
contemporary  thought.  It  is  predicted  that  adjust- 
ment of  elementary-school  courses  to  sex  needs  will 
sooner  or  later  cause  some  differentiation  in  spelling 
work  required  of  boys  and  girls.  At  present  a 
certain  amount  of  incidental  spelling  in  connection 
with  the  special  subjects,  such  as  domestic  science, 
manual  training  and  civics,  offers  most  hope  of  a 
satisfactory  solution. 

In  the  course  of  a  discussion  which  one  of  the 
writers  held  recently  with  two  grammar-school  boys 

_  ,    .        ,  .  on  the  applicability  of  their  spell- 

Relation  of  time  ff  J  f^ 

economy  to  spell-  mg  lessons  to  their  composition, 
ing  needs  ^^^  ^^  ^^^^  declared  that  he  had 

no  idea  of  ever  using  many  of  the  words  of  the 
speller,  since  he  was  familiar  with  plenty  of  short 


242     THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

common  ones  that  did  just  as  well.  How  far  an 
adult's  narrow  writing  vocabulary  is  a  matter  of 
choice  for  the  sake  of  economy,  rather  than  a  result 
of  lack  of  culture,  it  is  impossible  to  say  except  in 
individual  cases.  But  as  bearing  upon  this  matter, 
a  quotation  may  be  given  from  a  recent  writer  in 
the  Chicago  Tribune*  who  discussed  the  subject — 
*'Is  Letter-Writing  Becoming  Passe?"     She  says: 

"We  have  no  time  for  long  dissertations,  either 
about  books  or  scenery,  or  our  inmost  feelings  and 
impressions.  Letter-writing  has  ceased  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  pastime;  to  the  majority  it  is  nothing 
less  than  a  stern  duty  with  little  pleasure  in  it.  And 
as  a  duty  it  must  be  performed  accurately  with  no 
superfluities  or  digressions.  We  rarely  find  our- 
selves 'wishing  to'  write  a  letter,  but  we  frequently 
'have  to'  do  so,  and  to  get  the  business  over  both 
quickly  and  efficiently  we  gather  up  all  the  facts  to 
be  communicated  and  set  them  down  in  as  few 
words  as  possible." 

A  young  business  man  in  a  personal  letter  not 
long  ago  said : 

"Our  vocabularies  are  certainly  limited,  and  the 
rush  of  business  seems  to  be  in  some  ways  against 
their  development.  I  know  that  very  often  in  dic- 
tating I  substitute  a  common  word  for  one  which 
is  more  applicable  but  less  likely  to  be  understood 
by  the  foreign  class  addressed.  The  average  reader 
won't  consult  a  dictionary,  nor  puzzle  long  over 
difficult  words." 

♦March  9,  1913. 


TEXTS   AND    NEEDS  243 

That  such  conscious  or  unconscious  economy  is 
a  vital  force  in  the  selection  of  a  writing  vocabulary- 
appears  from  the  tabulation  of  general  List  I  and 
the  first  and  last  ninety-three  words  of  Lists  II,  III 
and  IV,  by  number  of  syllables. 


One 

Two 

Three 

Four 

Fire 

■yllable 

syllables 

syllables 

syllables 

syllables 

Total 

List  I 

152 

30 

4 

.. 

186 

List  II 

93 

72 

18 

"2 

"i 

186 

List  III 

40 

88 

34 

20 

4 

186 

List  IV 

31 

76 

42 

29 

8 

186 

Even  a  hasty  glance  at  List  I  will  show  that  it 
contains  many  words  which  are  commonly  mis- 
spelled. All  teachers  know  that  most  of  the  trou- 
blesome words  in  pupils'  papers  are  relatively  short, 
so  it  is  clear  that  the  frequency  of  the  short  words 
is  not  due  to  the  simplicity  of  their  spelling,  but 
rather  to  that  passion  for  conservation  of  energy 
which  consciously  or  unconsciously  accompanies  all 
effort  that  is  not  an  end  in  Itself. 

Just  how  great  a  role  these  short,  sharp  Anglo- 
Saxon  words  play  in  written  expression  can  be  best 
The  words  that  appreciated  from  a  few  compari- 
do  the  work  sons.      Ayres    found    that    nine 

words  constituted  over  one-fourth  and  forty-three 
words  over  one-half  of  the  whole  of  the  corre- 
spondence he  examined.  Reducing  his  list  to  a  dic- 
tionary basis,  we  leave  the  figures  practically  the 
same.  The  nine  remain  unchanged,  but  the  forty- 
three  probably  become  forty-five.  For  the  lists  de- 
rived from  this  investigation,  the  corresponding  fig- 


244    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

ures  are  nine  and  forty-two,  all  monosyllables. 
Since  the  exact  total  of  the  frequencies  in  List  III 
is  fifteen  thousand,  two  hundred  forty,  and  that 
for  List  IV  is  two  thousand,  nine  hundred  forty- 
three.  Lists  I  and  II  (seven  hundred  sixty-three 
words)  include  between  ninety  and  ninety-one  per 
cent,  of  the  total  words  written  in  ordinary  corre- 
spondence. Not  only  do  such  generalizations  hold 
for  a  number  of  persons  treated  collectively,  but 
the  same  conclusion  is  fairly  warranted  for  any  sin- 
gle individual.  As  a  test  a  calculation  was  made  of 
the  proportions  which  the  nine  most  frequent  words 
spoken  of  above  constituted  in  the  correspondence 
of  each  of  the  thirteen  correspondents.  The  theo- 
retical level  would  be  slightly  over  twenty-five  per 
cent,  for  each  person ;  the  actual  per  cent,  in  every 
case  fell  between  twenty-three  per  cent,  and  twenty- 
eight  and  two-tenths  per  cent.,  though  naturally 
there  were  marked  personal  variations  in  the  ,fre- 
quency  of  any  one  word,  due  to  different  habits  in 
sentence  structure  and  the  use  of  alternative  ex- 
pressions. The  forty-two  words  which  constituted 
just  above  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  total  words  for  all 
correspondents  taken  collectively  constituted  be- 
tween forty-six  and  fifty-five  per  cent,  for  all  cor- 
respondents taken  individually.  Lists  I  and  II, 
which  theoretically  would  constitute  ninety  per  cent, 
for  any  one  individual,  actually  made  up  from 
eighty-four  to  ninety-seven  per  cent,  of  the  total 
words  written  by  each  correspondent. 


TEXTS    AND    NEEDS  245 

An  interesting  check  on  the  results  given  in  the 
preceding  paragraph  was  gained  from  an  entirely 
different  source.  The  files  of  the  Chicago  Tribune 
for  June  and  July,  191 3,  were  consulted  and  a  total 
of  five  thousand  words  was  tallied  from  the  com- 
munications appearing  on  the  editorial  page  under 
the  titles  of  "The  Voice  of  the  People"  and  "The 
Friend  of  the  People."  A  considerable  amount  of 
ground  was  covered  by  selecting  only  the  first  un- 
capitalized  word  of  each  line.  The  same  identical 
nine  words  again  made  up  slightly  over  a  quarter 
of  the  total,  the  same  forty-two  words  comprised 
forty-two  and  five-tenths  per  cent,  as  against  one- 
half  in  family  correspondence,  while  Lists  I  and 
II  comprised  over  seventy-nine  per  cent,  of  the  to- 
tal, as  against  ninety  per  cent,  in  family  correspond- 
ence. It  is  highly  significant  that  the  percentages 
remain  so  nearly  the  same.  The  communications 
printed  in  the  Tribune  are  scarcely  to  be  termed 
typical  of  the  needs  of  common  people.  Unlike 
most  family  correspondence,  they  deal  with  many 
technical  matters  and  are  full  of  legal  terminology 
and  political  discussion.  Furthermore,  they  are 
largely  impersonal  in  their  nature,  and  contain  so 
few  personal  pronouns  as  to  account  for  the  slight 
discrepancy  between  seventy-nine  and  ninety  per 
cent. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
r£sum£  and  conclusions 

RETRACING  the  ground  we  have  covered,  we 
,  see  that  as  a  result  of  the  study  of  spelHng 
rules  with  university  freshmen  and  high-school  stu- 
dents, it  was  found  that,  if  we  omit  one  particular 
rule,  those  who  possessed  some  knowledge  of  rules 
showed  a  slight  superiority  over  their  fellows  in  the 
university  group  who  knew  no  rules,  and  a  slight 
inferiority  in  the  high-school  group.  Most  of  the 
persons  tested  had  had  thorough  instruction  in  spell- 
ing rules  at  periods  ranging  from  six  weeks  to  ten 
months  previous  to  the  tests,  but  they  had  retained 
very  little  knowledge  of  them.  Much  of  what  they 
had  remembered  was  defective,  erroneous,  and  was 
not  applied  in  their  spelling  in  the  tests.  ^  Spelling 
rules  seem  to  be  for  the  most  part  too  long  and  in- 
volved, and  there  are  too  many  exceptions  to  every 
rule  to  make  them  easily  applied  by  students.  One 
short,  simple  rule  to  the  effect  that  monosyllables 
ending  in  ie  change  the  same  to  y  before  suffixing 
ing,  is  doubtless  useful,  but  it  applies  to  only  a  half 
dozen  words. 

The  attitude  of  the  students  themselves  respect- 
246 


CONCLUSIONS  247 

ing  the  value  of  rules  is  skeptical.  If  taught  at  all 
the  rules  probably  ought  to  come  very  early  in  the 
child's  school  life.  In  later  years  it  is  seemingly 
impossible  to  develop  a  reflective  attitude  toward 
what  should  be  mainly  a  mere  sensori-motor  or  au- 
tomatic process,  without  producing  the  disturbed 
inhibitory  results  that  usually  follow  from  such  an 
attitude. 

Errors  in  spelling  may  be  grouped  into  two 
classes.  One  is  the  linguistic  lapse  or  chance  error 
that  is  due  to  a  wandering  of  the  attention  from 
the  material  being  written.  Lapses  are  identified 
by  the  correct  spelling  of  the  same  word  on  other 
similar  occasions,  or  by  the  promptness  with  which 
the  pupil  corrects  them  when  he  is  asked  to  look 
over  what  he  has  written.  Lapses  should  be  treated 
by  teachers  as  less  serious  than  other  mistakes,  and 
they  should  not  draw  the  teacher's  attention  from 
the  more  important  points  to  be  observed  in  the  pres- 
entation of  the  word.  Lapses  may  be  guarded 
against  by  giving  pupils  opportunity  to  go  over 
their  work  a  second  time  and  correct  errors  before 
submitting  it.  The  corrections  which  they  make  in 
this  way  should  not  be  penalized  so  heavily  as  the 
errors  that  are  due  to  lack  of  knowledge. 

The  second  sort  of  mistake  is  the  bona  fide  spell- 
ing error.  If  misspellings  in  large  numbers  are  ex- 
amined it  will  be  found  that  for  almost  any  word 
from  one-third  to  two-thirds  of  all  difficulties  are 
occasioned  by  some  special  letter  or  syllable.    This 


248    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

critical  point  in  a  word  may  or  may  not  be  one  to 
which  a  rule  applies.  Its  location  is  best  accom- 
plished by  the  tabulation  of  many  misspellings  of 
the  word.  The  most  fruitful  causes  of  error  are 
(i)  misptonunciation  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  and 
the  pupil,  (2)  the  drawing  of  phonetic  analogies 
from  other  words,  (3)  obscure  or  elided  vowels, 
and  (4)  double  or  silent  letters.  Particular  causes 
of  error  predominate  in  particular  cases,  being  de- 
termined largely  by  the  type  of  imagery  upon  which 
one  relies  in  spelling.  The  types  of  letters  (ascend- 
ers, descenders  and  single-space)  which  give  a  word 
its  distinctive  pattern,  have  much  to  do  with  the  par- 
ticular direction  which  error  may  take  in  that  word. 
For  example,  in  one  word  a  silent  letter  is  very 
likely  to  be  omitted,  in  another  it  is  almost  sure 
not  to  be  omitted. 

A  study  of  the  life  history  of  the  acquisition  of 
some  difficult  spellings  shows  the  persistent  effect  of 
spelling  errors.  Whatever  be  the  reason  for  its 
occurrence  in  the  first  place,  the  initial  error  in  the 
spelling  of  a  word  is  apt  to  persist  with  great  te- 
nacity. This  warrants  the  proposition  that  children 
should  not  be  allowed  to  write  their  spelling  lessons 
without  careful  preliminary  study,  as  they  are  often 
tempted  to  do  by  the  prevailing  practise  of  leaving 
their  study  undirected  and  requiring  a  certain  mini- 
mum grade  for  promotion  in  that  subject.  So  far 
as  a  theory  of  progress  goes  in  spelling  attainment, 
there  are  not  two  stages  in  the  mastery  of  words. 


CONCLUSIONS  249 

but  rather  four  stages.  In  the  first  stage  a  pupi| 
habitually  misspells  a  word  in  a  particular  manner ; 
in  the  second  stage  his  misspellings  begin  to  vary; 
in  the  third  stage  occasional  correct  spelling  occurs ; 
while  in  the  fourth  stage  correct  spelling  becomes 
habitual.  Not  all  words  necessarily  pass  through 
all  these  stages.  Under  proper  supervision  a  word 
will  never  be  permitted  to  become  so  thoroughly 
mislearned  by  a  pupil  as  to  show  the  same  error 
time  after  time.  Under  normal  conditions  a  word 
should  pass  through  only  the  third  and  fourth 
stages  mentioned  above. 

There  is  probably  no  such  thing  as  complete 
transfer  of  the  ability  developed  in  column  spelling 
over  to  contextual  spelling.  In  the  latte:r  case  lapses 
will  be  more  numerous,  and  words  not  yet  fully 
mastered  are  more  likely  to  revert  to  an  earlier 
stage  of  misspelling.  The  reason  for  this  is  the 
dispersion  of  attention  over  a  larger  and  more  com- 
plex field  in  contextual  than  in  column  writing.  As 
long  as  loss  in  transfer  occurs  at  all,  the  only  ulti- 
mate test  of  spelling  efficiency  must  be  contextual 
writing,  and  dictated  material  will  serve  the  pur- 
pose much  less  satisfactorily  than  original  composi- 
tion. Isolated  spelling  may  nevertheless  be  the 
more  economical  means  in  the  preliminary  work  of 
mastering  words. 

The  efficiency  of  a  method  of  presentation  ought 
not  to  be  judged  by  a  test  on  irnrnedia^e  recall  or 
by  means  of  ptjier  than  regular  spelling  ni^terial. 


250    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

The  method  of  sense  presentation  and  the  pupil's 
response  thereto  play  a  minor  role  as  compared 
with  the  frequency  of  recall.  Within  two  weeks 
after  the  presentation  of  a  lesson,  if  there  be  no  in- 
tervening review,  the  lesson  is  about  as  nearly  lost 
as  in  a  much  longer  period.  Graphic  spelling  can 
be  taught  so  as  to  secure  the  various  advantages  of 
oral  spelling  and  avoid  its  disadvantages.  Differ- 
ences in  the  effectiveness  of  the  two  show  up  more 
plainly  for  individuals  than  for  a  group  as  a  whole. 
As  long  as  the  spelling  list  is  in  advance  of  the 
pupil's  needs  for  expression  it  is  improbable  that 
the  mere  teaching  of  the  words  in  context  creates 
a  less  formal  situation,  as  far  as  spelling  is  con- 
cerned, than  to  teach  them  in  column.  Such  a  state- 
ment is  true  regardless  of  the  fact  that  the  signifi- 
cance of  a  word  can  of  course  best  be  grasped  only 
when  it  is  given  a  contextual  setting.  Comparative 
experimentation  is  difficult  because  the  "school 
habit"  of  pupils  has  prejudiced  them  in  favor  of 
column  teaching. 

Close  study  of  two  pupils  indicated  that  freedom 
in  original  composition,  breadth  of  vocabulary  em- 
ployed, life,  variety  and  naturalness  of  written  ex- 
pression are  not  the  result  of  spelling  ability.  Their 
only  relation  to  spelling  is  seen  in  the  effect  of  un- 
due spelling  consciousness  in  retarding  facility  of 
expression.  Other  minor  inferences  drawn  from 
the  experiments  in  Part  I  are  ( i )  the  evil  influence 
on  spelling  of  those  methods  of  teaching  reading 


CONCLUSIONS  251 

which  delay  too  long  the  mastery  of  the  alphabet, 
or  direct  attention  too  much  away  from  the  letters 
of  words;  (2)  the  disintegrating  effect  produced  in 
one's  own  spelling  by  exposing  to  one  the  errors 
of  others;  (3)  the  disadvantage  of  a  reflective  atti- 
tude toward  spelling;  (4)  the  rareness  of  pure  types 
of  spellers,  such  as  audiles  or  visualizers;  (5)  and 
the  impropriety  of  dwelling  long  on  syllabication 
after  pronunciation  has  been  well  worked  out. 

In  Part  II  it  was  shown  that  every-day  needs  are 
not  consulted  in  the  framing  of  spelling  lists,  but 
that  the  dogma  of  formal  discipline,  ex  cathedra 
judgment,  and  the  domination  of  common  schools 
by  higher  institutions  have  been  the  forces  at  work. 
We  seem  to  have  various  ideas  regarding  the  ex- 
tent of  the  vocabulary  which  a  pupil  should  be  re- 
quired to  spell.  But  it  is  not  formal  education  so 
much  as  breadth  of  interest  and  variety  of  experi- 
ence which  determine  the  size  of  one's  spelling  vo- 
cabulary. Sex  needs  differ  sufficiently  so  that  one 
may  raise  a  question  as  to  differentiation  between 
the  spelling  requirements  for  the  two  sexes.  There 
seiems  in  actual  life  to  be  a  seeking  after  the  word 
that  is  the  shortest  for  the  writer  and  the  simplest 
and  most  easily  understood  by  the  one  addressed. 
We  need  to  narrow  the  field  of  subject-matter  in 
spelling  and  cultivate  it  more  intensively. 

The  examination  of  a  vast  body  of  family  corre- 
spondence collected  from  widely  separated  sources 
shows  that  less  than  a  dozen  words  do  one-fourth 


252    THE    CHILD   AND    HIS    SPELLING 

of  our  work  in  writing,  that  about  fifty  do  a  half 
of  it,  and  that  less  than  eight  hundred  do  nine- 
tenths  of  it. 

The  words  in  Lists  I  and  II  (pages  1 57-161 T 
should  be  thoroughly  mastered  by  every  elementary- 
school  pupil.  List  I  with  its  large  number  of  per- 
sonal and  relative  pronouns,  simple  adverbs,  prepo- 
sitions, conjunctions,  numbers,  auxiliary  verbs,  etc., 
forms  the  very  skeleton  of  all  English  expression. 
List  II  includes  a  large  proportion  of  the  concrete 
nominal,  verbal  and  adjectival  terms  that  form  the 
gist  of  the  content  of  our  expression. 

The  words  in  List  III  come  next  in  importance 
and  should  receive  careful  attention.  They  should 
be  drilled  on  particularly  in  the  three  or  four  higher 
grades,  (i)  because  they  are  less  vital  than  the 
words  in  Lists  I  and  II  for  those  who  may  have  to 
drop  out  of  school  early;  and  (2)  because  they  gen- 
erally come  to  function  in  the  child's  life  at  a  later 
date  than  those  of  Lists  I  and  II.  If  further  prun- 
ing is  necessary  it  must  begin  with  List  III.  Addi- 
tional study  is  needed  with  a  larger  number  of  per- 
sons to  allow  other  words  of  possible  but  so  far 
undemonstrated  utility  to  pass  out  of  List  IV  into 
List  III.  As  such  study  proceeds,  standards  for 
eligibility  to  List  III  must  be  raised,  the  possible 
result  being  that  some  words  now  included  therein 
will  be  dropped  and  replaced  by  others.  To 
state  it  differently.  Lists  I  and  II  should  be  consid- 
ered as  fixing  a  minimum  for  the  present,  and  List 


CONCLUSIONS  2g3 

III    as   indicating    the    maximum    for    elementary 
pupils. 

To  this  maximum  of  two  thousand,  nine  hundred 
ninety-three  words  with  their  grammatical  modi- 
fications there  must  be  added  a  certain  number  of 
useful  proper  names.  The  character  of  this  list 
will  be  much  more  influenced  by  the  local  and  indi- 
vidual environment  than  the  general  lists  of  words 
will  be.  Fifty-seven  per  cent,  of  the  general  list 
of  five  thousand  two  hundred  words  comes  in  Lists 
I,  II  and  III,  but  with  proper  names  this  per  cent, 
drops  to  twenty-nine.  Over  a  fourth  of  List  II  and 
over  a  half  of  List  III  of  the  proper  names  falls 
outside  of  all  the  spelling-books.  Hence  one  can 
hardly  escape  the  conviction  that  a  child  would  do 
even  better  to  spend  his  school-days  in  learning  to 
spell  the  names  of  all  his  schoolmates  and  neigh- 
bors than  in  learning  the  orthography  of  any  con- 
siderable number  of  geographical  and  historical 
terms.  Every  child  should  know  how  to  spell  the 
names  of  the  days  of  the  week,  the  months  of  the 
year,  Christmas,  Thanksgiving,  Hallowe'en,  Easter 
and  other  important  festal  occasions  which  are  not 
of  denominational  character,  the  names  of  a  half 
dozen  of  the  more  prominent  local  religious  denom- 
inations, the  names  of  half  a  dozen  of  the  locally 
more  important  nationalities  (not  nations),  the 
names  of  his  nation,  his  own  state  and  other  states 
in  the  same  section  of  the  country,  the  half  dozen 
chief  cities  of  the  nation,  and  the  half  dozen  largest 


254    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

centers  in  his  own  state,  a  select  list  of  possibly 
forty  given  names,  half  for  boys  and  half  for  girls, 
to  include  those  which  seem  most  common  in  the 
immediate  locality.  The  limit  in  proper  names 
would  be  about  a  hundred.  The  lists  given  in  the 
preceding  chapter  are  suggestive  only  of  the  size 
and  scope  of  an  appropriate  list, 


THB  END 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 

WORDS   USED   SPONTANEOUSLY    BY    PUPILS 

THE  three  following  lists,  totaling  eleven  hun- 
dred fifty-eight  words,  are  selected  from  the 
vocabulary  which  Mr.  Homer  J.  Smith,  now  of  the 
Milwaukee  Trade  School,  found  in  the  examination 
of  seventy-five  thousand  running  words  of  the 
spontaneous  compositions  of  children.  Twelve 
thousand  five  hundred  words  were  taken  from  each 
grade  from  the  third  to  the  eighth  inclusive.  The 
children  were  enrolled  in  the  public  schools  of  Mad- 
ison, Wisconsin,  a  typical  city  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand inhabitants.  List  I  includes  words  used  by  the 
pupils  of  each  grade;  List  II,  all  others  used  by 
at  least  three  of  the  six  grades;  List  HI,  those 
used  in  only  two  different  grades.  The  principle 
of  selection  then  is  not  absolutie  frequency  of 
occurrence,  but  universality  of  use  through  the 
grades,  a  principle  similar  to  that  which  was 
followed  in  making  up  general  Lists  I,  It 
and  III  of  the  preceding  pages.  It  will  be  ob- 
served that  the  personal,  possessive  and  demonstra- 
tive pronouns,  the  numerals,  ordinals  and  articles, 
and  about  thirty  of  the  most  common  prepositions, 

257 


258    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

conjunctions,  verbs  and  adverbs,  besides  local  prop- 
er names,  are  omitted.  A  careful  comparison  of 
these  lists  with  those  given  by  the  authors  in  the 
preceding  pages  will  reveal  marked  differences  be- 
tween the  vocabularies  of  children  and  adults,  and 
will  suggest  means  of  motivation  in  framing  spell- 
ing lists  for  children.  The  authors  are  under  obli- 
gation to  Mr.  Smith  for  his  permission  to  utilize 
the  results  of  his  work. 

LIST  I 


272 

WORDS 

about 

boy 

different 

find 

across 

branch 

dinner 

fire 

after 

break 

dish 

fish 

afternoon 

breakfast 

dollar 

floor 

again 

bring 

door 

follow 

almost 

brother 

down 

foot 

along 

build 

dress 

forest 

always 

buy 

drink 

friend 

another 

call 

drop 

front 

any 

camp 

each 

game 

around 

can 

early 

get 

ask 

candy 

eat 

girl 

aunt 

car 

egg 

give 

away 

care 

end 

glad 

awhile 

carry 

enough 

go 

back 

catch 

even 

good 

bad 

cave 

ever 

grandfather 

ball 

cent 

every 

grandmother 

basket 

chicken 

fall 

great 

because 

child 

family 

grind 

bed 

cold 

far 

grow 

before 

color 

farm 

hand 

begin 

come 

fast 

happy 

big 

country 

father 

hard 

birthday 

cousin 

feel 

hay 

boat 

dance 

few 

head 

bom 

dark 

field 

hear 

box 

day 

fill 

help 

APPENDIX 

hide 

much 

right 

time 

hold 

must 

room 

tire 

home 

myself 

run 

together 

hope 

name 

same 

toward 

horse 

near 

say 

town 

house 

never 

school 

train 

hunt 

new 

think 

tree 

ice 

next 

through 

try 

into 

nice 

seem 

turkey 

jump 

night 

send 

uncle 

just 

noise 

shoe 

until 

keep 

noon 

show 

upon 

kill 

o'clock 

since 

use 

kind 

old 

sing 

vacation 

know 

only 

sister 

very 

lake 

open 

sleep 

visit 

land 

other 

small 

wait 

large 

outside 

snow 

wake 

last 

over 

some 

walk 

late 

own 

something 

want 

laugh 

pack 

soon 

warm 

learn 

pair 

spend 

wash 

leave 

party 

spring 

watch 

like 

pass 

stairs 

water 

line 

people 

stand 

way 

little 

pick 

start 

week 

live 

place 

stay 

well 

long 

play 

stop 

while 

look 

poor 

store 

whole 

lose 

pretty 

story 

will 

lot 

pull 

street 

wind 

lunch 

put 

sun 

window 

make 

quite 

supper 
table 

wish 

man 

rabbit 

with 

many 

raise 

take 

woman 

master 

reach 

talk 

wood 

meet 

ready 

teach 

work 

mile 

rest 

tell 

write 

morning 

rich 

Thanksgiving 

year 

mother 

ride 

thing 

LIST  II 

542  WORDS 

yet 

account 

afterward          ago 

air 

act 

against 

ahead 

alarm 

afraid 

age 

aim 

alone 

259 


26o    THE    CHILf)    ANO    HIS    SPELLING 


also 

blue 

coffee 

edge 

among 

bluff 

comb 

either 

anger 

board 

comfort 

else 

answer 

boil 

company 

enjoy 

anyone 

book 

cook 

everything 

anything 

both 

cooky 

excite 

anyway 

bottom 

corn 

expect 

appear 

bread 

corner 

experience 

apple 

brick 

cost 

eye 

arise 

bridge 

cotton 

face 

arm 

bright 

count 

factory 

arrive 

brown 

couple 

fail 

asleep 

buggy 

course 

fat 

asylum 

bullet 

cover 

feed 

automobile 

bump 

cow 

fellow 

awake 

bunch 

crack 

fence 

awful 

bundle 

creep 

fight 

ax 

burn 

cross 

final 

baby 

bury 

crow 

fine 

bag 

bush 

crowd 

finish 

bake 

busy 

crumb 

fix 

band 

butter 

cry 

flame 

bandage 

button 

curl 

flower 

bank 

cabin 

cut 

fly 

bark 

cake 

danger 

fond 

barn 

calf 

daughter 

football 

bathe 

candle 

deal 

force 

bear 

cap 

dear 

forget 

beautiful 

capture 

decide 

form 

become 

cat 

decorate 

fox 

behind 

cattle 

deep 

free 

believe 

cellar 

deer 

freeze 

bell 

chair 

depot 

fresh 

belong 

chance 

die 

frighten 

below 

cheese 

dip 

fruit 

beside 

cherry 

direct 

fun 

between 

chimney 

dirt 

garden 

bicycle 

chirp 

doctor 

gather 

bid 

choose 

dog 

glass 

bill 

Christmas 

doll 

gold 

bind 

church 

draw 

goodby 

bird 

city 

dream 

goose 

bite 

clean 

drive 

grab 

black 

clerk 

drum 

grade 

bleed 

climb 

dry 

grape 

block 

close 

duck 

grass 

blossom 

cloth 

during 

green 

blow 

coat 

earn 

guess 

APPENDIX 

2 

gm 
hair 

lamp 
lap 

neighbor 
nest 

pound 
pour 

half 

lead 

nobody 

present 

hall 

leaf 

nose 

price 

handkerchief 

leg 

note 

pumpkin 

hang 

lemon 

nothing 

pup 

happen 

lesson 

notice 

purse 

harness 

let 

now 

push 

hat 

letter 

number 

quarrel 

heat 

light 

nut 

quarter 

heavy 

lightning 

oak 

quick 

hello 

limb 

office 

quiet 

hen 

lion 

often 

race 

here 

listen 

once 

rag 

hickory 

load 

orange 

rain 

high 

lock 

orchard 

rake 

hike 

log 

ought 

rather 

hill 

lonesome 

ourselves 

read 

himself 

love 

package 

real 

hit 

low 

pail 

receive 

hitch 

lumber 

paper 

red 

hole 

machine 

parent 

remember 

honest 

mad 

park 

reply 

hospital 

maid 

parlor 

result 

hour 

marry 

part 

return 

humble 

marsh 

pasture 

ribbon 

hunger 

matter 

pay 

rifle 

hungry 

may 

peek 

ring 

hurry 

meal 

pencil 

river 

hurt 

mean 

person 

road 

hut 

meat 

pet 

roar 

idle 

merry 

piano 

robin 

imagine 

middle 

picture 

rock 

inch 

milk 

pie 

roll 

inside 

mill 

piece 

rope 

instead 

mind 

pity 

rough 

intend 

minute 

plan 

round 

invite 

miss 

plant 

row 

iron 

model 

please 

rug 

job 

money 

pocket 

rush 

journey 

month 

point 

sack 

kiss 

mountain 

police 

sad 

kitchen 

mouse 

pony 

safe 

knife 

mouth 

pop 

sail 

knock 

move 

popcorn 

Santa  Claus 

ladder 

mud 

porch 

satisfy 

lady 

need 

post 

sauce 

lagoon 

negro 

potato 

save 

261 


262     THE 

CHILD    A 

ND    HIS 

SPELLING 

schoolhouse 

soil 

supply 

under 

scratch 

soldier 

suppose 

unless 

see 

somebody 

sure 

vase 

seek 

sometime 

surprise 

village 

sell 

son 

sweat 

voice 

serve 

sorrow 

sweep 

wade 

settle 

sorry- 

swim 

wagon 

several 

sound 

tag 

wall 

sew 

speak 

tail 

war 

shake 

sport 

tall 

wave 

shall 

spot 

team 

wear 

sheep 

spy 

tear 

weep 

shell 

squirrel 

telephone 

wet 

shine 

star 

tend 

wheel 

ship 

station 

tent 

which 

shoat 

steal 

terrible 

whip 

shock 

steep 

thank 

whistle 

shop 

step 

themselves 

white 

shore 

stick 

thick 

why 

short 

stiff 

though 

wide 

shout 

still 

thread 

widow 

sick 

stocking 

throw 

wife 

side 

stone 

tie 

wing 

sight 

storm 

tip 

winter 

silk 

stove 

today 

without 

sink 

straight 

toe 

wonder 

size 

straw 

tomorrow 

word 

skate 

stream 

tonight 

world 

skin 

strike 

top 

worm 

sled 

string 

toy 

worth 

sleigh 

strong 

track 

wrap 

slide 

stub 

tramp 

yard 

slip 

stumble 

trip 

yellow 

slow 

such 

trouble 

yes 

smoke 

sudden 

turn 

yesterday 

snake 

suit 

umbrella 

young 

soak 

summer 

LIST  III 

344 

WORDS 

above 

aflame 

arrest 

attic 

absent 

agree 

arrow 

baggage 

accident 

already 

ash  (es) 

bale 

acorn 

angleworm 

astonish 

balloon 

advance 

animal 

attack 

banana 

adventure 

army 

attend 

barrel 

APPENDIX 

baseball 

cranberry 

fasten 

interest 

bass 

crane 

fear 

jacket 

bat 

crash 

feast 

jail 

battle 

crawl 

feather 

jewel 

bay 

creek 

fever 

joy 

beam 

cripple 

fierce 

judge 

beat 

cruel 

fit 

keg 

beg 

cup 

flag 

key 

berry 

cupboard 

flint 

kick 

blackboard 

cutter 

flock 

king 

blanket 

damage 

flood 

kite 

bloom 

dandelion 

flour 

kitten 

blot 

darling 

flow 

knapsack 

bold 

dash 

folk 

knee 

bond 

delay 

food 

lack 

bonfire 

delight 

former 

lad 

bother 

deliver 

fort 

landlord 

breast 

desk 

forth 

lawn 

bridle 

destroy 

forward 

lone 

brook 

diamond 

freight 

loud 

broom 

dig 

fright 

mail 

bruise 

disappear 

furnace 

manage 

bug 

discover 

furniture 

manual 

burglar 

disgust 

gin 

march 

canvass 

dismiss 

graze 

market 

card 

distance 

group 

match 

carpet 

dive 

growl 

mate 

cart 

divide 

guard 

maybe 

case 

dodge 

gust 

melt 

cause 

dozen 

hale 

mend 

cement 

drag 

hammer 

mince 

change 

dragon 

hardship 

mistress 

chase 

drown 

hatch 

mix 

chop 

dust 

hatchet 

mound 

circle 

eagle 

haul 

muskrat 

class 

earth 

hawk 

narrow 

clear 

easy 

heart 

nature 

clothe 

educate 

heel 

naughty 

club 

enemy 

herd 

necktie 

coal 

engine 

herself 

nickel 

coast 

enter 

hook 

noble 

collect 

entertain 

horn 

none 

colt 

everybody 

hose 

north 

continue 

examine 

hug 

oat 

cord 

except 

ill 

occasion 

cottage 

explore 

Indian 

offer 

cozy 

fact 

industry 

onion 

cracker 

fair 

insect 

operate 

263 


264    THE    CHILD   AND   HIS    SPELLING 


opposite 

raid 

society 

thunder 

order 

raisin 

soft 

ticket 

outdoor 

ranch 

song 

tiny 

paint 

rat 

speed 

tog 

pan 

rattle 

splendid 

touch 

pane 

remark 

spoil 

trace 

paralyze 

ripe 

spread 

trap 

particular 

roof 

square 

treasure 

peanut 

root 

stack 

trim 

peep 

saddle 

stain 

trousers 

pen 

scarce 

stalk 

trunk 

picnic 

scare 

starch 

tunnel 

pigeon 

screen 

starve 

unload 

pile 

screw 

stock 

usual 

pin 

scorch 

strange 

value 

pine 

seat 

study 

verse 

pink 

seed 

stuff 

violet 

playmate 

select 

sunshine 

weak 

plenty 

sense 

surrender 

weed 

plow 

shade 

surround 

wheat 

poison 

shape 

swallow 

where 

pond 

shoulder 

sweater 

win 

position 

shovel 

swing 

wipe 

praise 

shut 

sword 

wire 

press 

sidewalk 

tablet 

wise 

prince 

sign 

tack 

witch 

prison 

silver 

taste 

wither 

probable 

sit 

tease 

within 

puff 

slate 

theater 

wolf 

pump 

smell 

there 

worry 

punish 

smooth 

thimble 

wound 

purchase 

smother 

throat 

yell 

REFERENCE  FOR  FURTHER 
READING 


REFERENCES    FOR    FURTHER    READING 

THE  more  important  books  and  articles  bear- 
ing directly  on  the  problems  of  spelling  are 
listed  below.  It  has  not  been  thought  desirable  to 
include  in  this  bibliography  the  great  volume  of 
controversial  literature  called  out  by  the  agitation 
for  "simplified  spelling."  The  general  literature 
dealing  with  the  memory  has  not  been  included  to 
any  extent,  since  much  of  it  can  not  be  shown  to 
have  any  bearing  on  spelling  problems.  The  brief 
annotations  may  possibly  be  helpful  to  busy  readers. 

Abbott,  Edwina  E. — On  the  Analysis  of  the  Memory 
Consciousness  in  Orthography.  Psychological 
Review,  Monograph  Supplements,  Vol.  XI, 
No.  I,  pp.  127-158. 

Continued    experiments   with    four   trained 
subjects. 
Ayres,  Leonard  P. — The  Spelling  Vocabularies  of 
Personal  and  Business  Letters.    Russell  Sage 
Foundation,  February,  191 3.     14  pp. 

The  first  piece  of  work  on  the  spelling  vo- 
cabularies of  common  people. 
Bailey,  William  B. — Some  College  Spelling.    Inde- 
pendent, 6y:  345-347- 

Errors  culled  from  about  five  hundred  thou- 
267 


268    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

sand  running  words  of  composition  by  college 
students.  Spelling  ability  fairly  well  corre- 
lated with  general  ability. 

Baird,  J.  W. — The  Psychology  of  Spelling.  Bulle- 
tin Illinois  Association  of  Teachers  of  Eng- 
lish, Vol.  IV,  No.  8. 

Holds  motor  imagery  most  important  for 
most  pupils,  as  indicated  by  test  of  seven  hun- 
dred children. 

Bawden,  H.  Heath. — A  Study  of  Lapses.  Psycho- 
logical Review,  Monograph  Supplements,  Vol. 
Ill,  No.  4. 

Burnham,  Wm.  H. — The  Hygiene  and  Psychology 
of  Spelling.    Pedagogical  Seminary,  13:  474- 

501. 

Summary  of  investigation  of  effect  of  dif- 
ferent methods  of  presentation  and  other  stud- 
ies to  date. 
Carmen,   E.   Kate. — The  Cause  of  Chronic  Bad 
Spelling.    Journal  of  Pedagogy,  13:  86-91. 

Bad  spelling  is  attributed  largely  to  lack  of 
habit  or  ability  to  observe. 
Chancellor,  William  Estabrook. — Spelling.     Jour- 
nal of  Education,  71 :  488,  517,  545,  573,  607. 

Principally  important  for  Mr,  Chancellor's 
list  of  the  one  thousand  most  commonly  used 
words. 
Charters,  W.  W.— ^  Spelling  "Hospital"  in  the 
High  School.    School  Review,  18:  192-195. 

An  account  of  the  treatment  of  poor  spellers 


REFERENCES  269 

in  the  high  school  of  the  University  of  Mis- 
souri. 

Comman,  Oliver  P. — Spelling  in  the  Elementary 
School.    Ginn  &  Co.,  1902,  98  pp. 

The  chief  feature  of  this  monograph  is  the 
information  it  gives  regarding  the  famous 
Philadelphia  experiment  in  the  incidental 
teaching  of  spelling. 

Eldridge,  R.  C. — Six  Thousand  Common  English 
Words.    Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.,  n.  d.    64  pp. 

A  study  of  the  vocabulary  of  contemporary 
journalism. 

Foster,  William  T. — The  Spelling  of  College  Stu- 
dents. Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  2 : 
211-215. 

Qassification  and  discussion  of  two  thou- 
sand errors  made  by  college  students. 

Gregory,  B.  C. — The  Rationale  of  Spelling.  School 
and  Home  Education,  2^:  84-92,  123-129. 

Experimental  study  of  kinds  and  causes 
of  error.    Plea  for  more  oral  spelling. 

Henmon,  V.  A.  C. — The  Relation  Betzveen  Mode 
of  Presentation  and  Retention.  Psychological 
Review,  19:  79-96. 

Hollister,  H.  A. — The  Passing  of  the  Spelling -Bo  ok. 
School  and  Home  Education,  30:  64-68,  97- 

lOI. 

(i )  A  history  of  the  rise  and  decline  of  the 
spelling-book. 


270    THE   CHILD    AND   HIS    SPELLING 

'{2^  A  description  of  an  experiment  in  inci- 
dental teaching. 
Kline,  Linus  W. — A  Study  in  the  Psychology  of 
Spelling.    Journal  of  Educational  Psychology, 
3:  381-406. 

A  study  of  the  relation  of  types  of  imagery 
to  effective  presentation  in  spelling. 
Kratz,   H.   E. — Studies  and   Observations  in   the 
Schoolroom.     Educational    Publishing    Com- 
pany, 1907.    See  Chapter  XI. 

Test  of  different  methods  of  sense  presenta- 
tion on  several  hundred  children.  Conclusion 
highly  favorable  to  visual-auditory-articula- 
tory  method. 
Pearson,  Henry  C. — The  Scientific  Study  of  the 
Teaching  of  Spelling.  Journal  of  Educational 
Psychology,  2 :  241-252. 

Study  of  simultaneous  versus  separate  treat- 
ment of  homonyms. 
Rice,  J.  M. — The  Futility  of  the  Spelling  Grind. 
Forum,  2^:  163-172,  409-419. 

Results  of  test  administered  to  thirty-three 
thousand  children  in  over  twenty  cities  of  the 
country.  Conclusions  negative  as  to  efficacy 
of  time  and  methods.  Teacher's  personality 
the  crux.  Work  should  be  graded  and  com- 
mon words  stressed. 
Sandwick,  Richard  L. — Teaching  Old-fashioned 
Spelling  in  an  Up-to-date  Way.    Bulletin  I  Hi- 


REFERENCES  271 

nois  Association  of  Teachers  of  English,  Vol. 
IV,  No.  8. 

Scott,  Frank  W. — A  Spelling  Lesson.  Bulletin  Illi- 
nois Association  of  Teachers  of  English,  Vol. 
Ill,  No.  8. 

Shaw,  Esther  E. — Is  Spelling  a  Failure  f  Educa- 
tional Review,  40:  170-182. 

Smiley,  W.  S. — A  Comparative  Study  of  the  Re- 
sults Obtained  in  Instruction  in  the  "Single 
Teacher"  Rural  Schools  and  the  Graded  Town 
Schools.  Elementary  School  Teacher,  1 1 : 
316-322. 

Spindler,  F.  N. — Memory  Types  in  Spelling.  Edu- 
cation, 28:  1 75-1 81. 

Suzzallo,     Henry  —  The    Teaching    of    Spelling. 
Teachers'  College  Record,  Vol.  XII,  No.   5. 
Treatment  of  tendencies  in  method  at  the 
present  time.     Probably  most  complete  state- 
ment of  problems  up  for  solution. 

Suzzallo,  Henry,  and  Pearson,  Henry  Carr — Com- 
parative Experimental  Teaching  in  Spelling, 
Teachers'  College  Record,  Vol.  XIII,  No.  i. 
Description  of  comparative  experiments  in 
class-directed  study  and  independent  study. 
Resume  of  preceding  references  (Suzzallo 
and  Pearson). 

Turner,  E.  A. — Rule  vs.  Drill  in  Teaching  Spell- 
ing. Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  3: 
460461. 


272    THE    CHILD    AND    HIS    SPELLING 

Wallin,  J.  E.  Wallace— -Hosy  the  Drill  Become  Ob- 
solescent f  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology, 
1 :  200-213. 

A  plea  for  spelling  drill  of  a  specific  sort. 
Description  of  the  Cleveland  (Ohio)  plan. 

Wallin,  J.  E.  Wallace — Spelling  Efficiency  in  Re- 
lation to  Age,  Grade  and  Sex,  and  the  Ques- 
tion of  Transfer,  Warwick  &  York,  1911. 
86  pp. 

Whipple,  Guy  Montrose — The  Spelling  of  Univer- 
sity Students.  Journal  of  Educational  Psy- 
chology, i:  31.33. 

Whipple,  Guy  Montrose — Relative  Efficiency  of 
Phonetic  Alphabets.  Warwick  &  York,  191 1. 
52  pp. 

"An  experimental  investigation  of  the  com- 
parative merits  of  the  Webster  Key  Alphabet 
and  the  proposed  Key  Alphabet  submitted  to 
the  National  Education  Association." 

Wyckoff,  Adelaide  E. — Constitutional  Bad  Spellers. 
Pedagogical  Seminary,   2:  448-451. 

Effort  at  analysis  by  psychological  tests  of 
traits  of  a  small  group  of  bad  spellers. 

Journal  of  Education,  71 :  153,  271,  383,  410,  gives 
standard  lists  of  words  for  first  four  grades 
in  Milwaukee  schools.  Plan  similar  to  that 
of  Cleveland. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Accessory,  life  history  of  correct  spelling  of,  69. 

ANALOGY,  in  spelling,  39-41. 

Ancient,  list  showing  misspellings  of,  25. 

Argument,  list  showing  misspellings  of,  28. 

ATTENTION:  dispersion  of  a  cause  of  errors,  87,  88;  to 
technique  in  composition,  109,  110. 

AUDITORY,  types  in  spelling,  116,  117. 

AUTOMATIC:  execution  of  the  literal  elements,  89;  con- 
trol of  the  larger  units,  90,  91. 

AUTOMATISM,  relative,  88,  89. 

Awful,  list  showing  misspellings  of,  28. 

AYRES'.  study  of  spelling  lists,  136,  137,  156-174,  234,  235. 

Benefited,  list  showing  misspellings  of,  29. 

Betrayal,  list  showing  misspellings  of,  29. 

BOOKS,  as  affecting  the  need  of  teaching  spelling,  139,  140. 

CAUSES:  of  errors  in  spelling,  23-47;  need  of  determining 
causes,  23-25. 

CHANCELLOR,  study  of  spelling  lists,  135,  136,  156-174. 

CHICAGO  FIRE,  table  showing  result  of  spelling  test  on 
words  relating  to,  77,  78. 

CHICAGO  TRIBUNE:  examination  of  communications 
printed  in,  245;  quotation  from,  242. 

CHILDREN,  words  used  in  compositions  by,  255-262. 

COLUMN :  versus  contextual  spelling,  74-93 ;  material  and 
subjects  of  test,  74;  difficulties  of  plan,  74,  75;  table 
showing  result  of  dictation  of  extract  from  Robinson 
Crusoe,  76,  77;  table  showing  spellings  of  words  taken 
from  account  of  the  Chicago  fire,  77,  78;  table  summa- 
rizing results  of  tests,  81 ;  two  methods  of  measuring 
loss  by  transfer,  81,  82 ;  the  conventional  conclusion,  82 ; 
genuine  d)Tiamic  spelling,  82;  table  showing  results  of 
original  composition  test,  83-86;  loss  in  efficiency  by 
transfer,  81,  82,  86,  87;  frequency  of  errors.  81.  82,  86, 
87 ;  dispersion  of  attention  a  cause  of  error,  87,  88 ;  rela- 
tive automatism,  88,  89;  automatic  execution  of  the 
literal  elements,  89;  oral  spelling  first,  89,  90;  auto- 
matic control  of  larger  units,  90,  91 ;  universality  of  the 

275 


276  INDEX 

COLUMN— Co«/«ni«?(f 

principle,  91 ;  lack  of  transfer  unavoidable,  91 ;  column 
spelling  tests  given  to  high-school  freshmen,  92;  use 
of  words  in  contextual  relation  proof  of  spelling  efi&- 
ciency,  93. 

COMMON  PEOPLE,  needs  of  in  spelling,  137-139. 

COMPOSITION:  and  spelling  efficiency,  104-111;  words 
used  in  composition  by  children,  255-262,  See  Spell- 
ing Efficiency  and  Composition. 

CONTEXTUAL  SPELLING.     See  Column  Versus  Con- 

TEXTUAL   SfEXiLING 

CORRECTION,  method  of  in  experiments,  SO,  51. 

CORRESPONDENTS,  relation  of  spelling  vocabulary  of  to 
word  lists  in  spelling-books,  226-229. 

CRITICAL  POINT :  in  a  word.  34,  35 ;  rules  often  do  not 
relate  to  critical  points,  35-37;  directing  attention  to 
the  critical  point  in  any  word,  46,  47, 

CURTAILMENT  OF  VOCABULARY,  reasons  for  opposi- 
tion to,  132-134. 

DATA :  sources  and  character  of,  144-155 ;  account  of  letter- 
writers,  145-147;  description  of  spelling-books,  147-149; 
fto  consideration  of  test  lists,  149,  150;  rules  of  proce- 
dure, 150-154;  the  arrangement  of  words,  154,  155; 
Standard  Dictionary  used  in  determining  eligibility  of 
words,  153. 

DECLINING  IMPORTANCE,  of  spelling,  139-142. 

Dismayed,  list  showing  misspellings  of,  28,  29. 

DOUBLING  LETTERS,  as  a  source  of  error,  42,  43. 

DYNAMIC  SPELLING,  genuine,  82. 

Encouragemeni,  list  showing  misspellings  of,  27. 

ERRORS :  sources  and  causes  of,  23-47 ;  need  of  determin- 
ing causes,  23-25;  compiling  lists  of  misspelled  words, 
24 ;  sources  of  error  not  apparent,  24,  25 ;  table  show- 
ing varieties  of  misspelling  of  ancient,  25;  foreign,  26; 
piercing,  26;  sieve,  26,  27;  nervous,  27;  encouragement, 
27;  awful,  28;  argument,  28;  dismayed,  28,  29;  betrayal, 
29',  benefited.  29;  prevalence  of  chance  errors,  30;  slips 
of  the  pen,  oO,  31;  treatment  of  lapses,  32-34;  teachers 
often  fail  to  discriminate  lapses  from  genuine  error, 
33 ;  critical  point  in  a  word.  34,  35 :  rules  often  do  not 
relate  to  critical  points,  35-37:  analogy  in  spelling,  39- 
41;  obscure  or  elided  vowels,  41,  42:  doubling  letters  as 
a  source  of  error.  42,  43 ;  effect  oi  types  of  rules  on 
errors,  43-45;  syllabication  as  a  means  of  avoiding 
error,  45,  46;  means  of  directing  attention  to  the  criti- 


INDEX  277 

ERRORS— Continued 

cal  point  in  any  word,  46,  47;  methods  of  correction  of 
in  test,  50,  51;  persistence  of  certain  errors,  54,  55; 
persistence  of  initial  error,  64;  why  errors  persist,  65- 
67;  errors  eliminated  one  at  a  time,  70;  two  methods  of 
measuring  loss  by  transfer,  81,  82 ;  loss  in  efficiency  by 
transfer,  81,  82,  86,  87;  frequency  of  errors,  81,  82,  86, 
87;  dispersion  as  a  cause  of,  87,  88;  showing  a  pupil  his 
errors,  102,  103;  fear  of  making  errors,  114;  seeing 
and  hearing  mistakes,  115;  dominant  type  of  error,  118. 

FAMILY  LETTERS:  as  affording  accurate  data  for  spell- 
ing lists,  138,  139;  data  regarding  authors  of  family 
letters,  144-147;  word  lists  derived  from,  156-224. 

Foreign,  list  showing  misspellings  of,  26. 

FOREIGN  TERMS,  used  in  correspondence,  224. 

GRAPHIC,  versus  oral  spelling,  101. 

HIGH-SCHOOL  STUDENTS:  investigation  in  respect  to 
value  of  spelling  rules  used  by,  10,  11;  experience  and 
training  of  students  tested,  15 ;  column  spelling  tests 
given  to  freshmen,  92;  "spelling  hospital,"  92. 

IDEAS,  organization  of  in  composition,  108. 

IMMEDIATE,  versus  ultimate  values  in  spelling,  129,  130. 

IMPROVEMENT:  table  showing  capacity  for  improve- 
ment. 52;  ways  in  which  improvement  occurred,  52,  53. 

INFREQUENT  WORDS,  spelling  of,  130,  131,  133. 

INITIAL  MISSPELLING:  persistence  of,  64;  an  apparent 
exception  to  the  rule,  64. 

Intelliqible,  life  history  of  correct  spelling  of,  68. 

INVESTIGATION,  purpose  of  present,  5-8. 

LAPSES:  treatment  of,  32-34;  teachers  fail  to  discriminate 
lapses  from  genuine  error,  ZZ. 

LIFE  HISTORY:  of  certain  spellings,  48-73;  words  as- 
signed in  experiments,  48,  49;  method  of  presentation 
and  study,  49;  methods  of  recitation,  50;  methods  of 
correction,  50,  51 ;  table  indicating  capacity  for  im- 
provement shown  in  experiments,  52;  ways  in  which 
improvement  occurred,  52,  53;  power  of  learning  and 
retaining  new  words,  53;  persistence  of  certain  mis- 
takes, 54.  55 ;  table  showing  history  of  spellings  through 
tests,  56-62;  table  showing  tenacity  of  certain  misspell- 
ings, 6i;  persistence  of  the  initial  error  in  spelling,  64; 
an  apparent  exception  to  the  rule,  64;  why  errors  per- 


278  INDEX 

LIFE  HISTORY— Co«/inM^rf 

sist,  65,  67;  motor  habits  in  spelling,  66;  preparation 
of  the  spelling  lesson,  66-67;  life  history  of  machinist, 
67,  68;  malignity,  68;  intelligible,  68;  accessory,  69;  os- 
tensible, 69;  errors  eliminated  one  at  a  time,  70;  four 
stages  in  word  mastery,  71;  when  is  a  word  mastered? 
72',  mastery  more  complete  in  one  "modality"  than  an- 
other, 72. 

Machinist,  life  history  of  correct  spelling  of,  67,  68. 

MAGAZINES,  as  affecting  the  need  of  teaching  spelling,  140. 

Malignity,  life  history  of  correct  spelling  of,  68. 

MASTERY:  of  a  word,  71;  when  is  a  word  mastered?  72; 
mastery  more  complete  in  one  "modality"  than  an- 
other, 72. 

MEN :  sex  differences  in  spelling  vocabularies,  235 ;  words 
dominant  in  the  letters  of,  239,  240. 

METHODS:  of  determining  the  written  vocabulary,  135- 
143;  of  directing  attention  to  the  critical  point  in  any 
word,  46,  47;  of  presentation  and  study  in  experiment, 
49;  methods  of  recitation,  50;  methods  of  correction, 
50,  51 ;  of  presentation,  94-103. 

"MODALITY,"  mastery  of  a  word  more  complete  in  one 
"modality"  than  in  another,  72. 

MOTOR  HABITS,  in  spelling,  66. 

Nervous,  list  showing  misspellings  of,  27. 
NEWSPAPERS:    investigation   of   lists   of   words   used   in, 
135 ;  as  affecting  the  need  of  teaching  spelling,  139,  140. 
NEW  WORDS,  pupil's  ability  to  learn  and  retain,  53. 

ORAL  versus  graphic  spelling,  101. 

Ostensible,  life  history  of  correct  spelling  of,  69. 

Piercing,  list  showing  misspellings  of,  26. 

POST-CARD,  as  influencing  the  need  of  teaching  spelling, 
141,  142. 

PREPARATION,  of  the  spelling  lesson.  6S,  67. 

PRESENTATION:  methods  of,  94-103;  variance  of  opin- 
ions concerning,  94,  95;  plan  of  investigation  of,  95; 
four  types  of,  916;  table  showing  results  of  test  in  two 
types  of,  97;  comparison  of  methods  of,  98-100;  oral 
versus  graphic,  101 ;  advantages  of  each  method  of,  101 ; 
showing  a  pupil  his  error,  102,  103. 

PRESENT-DAY  SPELLING:  wide-spread  criticism  of  the 
teaching  of,  1-3;  various  explanations  offered  for  de- 


INDEX  279 

PRESENT-DAY  SPELLING— Co»t/mM/rf 

ficiency  in,  1 ;  the  layman's  view  of  method  of  teach- 
ing, 2;  conflicting  opinions  respecting  methods  and  re- 
sults, 3,  4;  the  layman's  remedy,  3. 

PROPER  NAMES:  in  correspondence,  219-223;  in  spelling 
needs,  253. 

PURE  TYPES,  never  found  as  regards  mode  of  spelling,  117. 

READING,  in  relation  to  learning  to  spell,  112-114. 

REASONING,  as  involved  in  spelling,  115. 

RECITATION,  method  of  in  experiments,  50. 

ROBINSON  CRUSOE,  table  showing  result  of  dictation 
from,  76,  n. 

RULES  FOR  SPELLING:  value  of,  10-22;  lack  of  agree- 
ment regarding  use  of  in  modern  texts,  10,  11;  examples 
of  rules  found  in  spelling  texts,  10;  investigations  of 
university  and  high-school  students  in  respect  to  value 
of  rules,  10,  11;  word  list  used  to  test  value  of  spelling 
rules,  11-13;  experience  and  training  of  students  tested, 
13,  14;  three  classes  of  people  in  respect  to  the  use  of 
rules,  16;  conscious  versus  unconscious  use  of  a  rule, 
16,  17;  table  showing  observance  of  rules,  17;  function 
of  ie-ei  rule,  18;  value  of  rule  on  final  e,  18,  19;  value  of 
rule  on  final  y,  19;  value  of  rule  for  final  ie,  20;  stu- 
dents' attitude  toward  rules,  21,  22;  effects  of  types  of 
rules  on  errors,  43-45. 

SCOPE,  of  present  investigation,  5-7. 

Sieve,  list  showing  misspellings  of,  26,  27. 

SPECIAL  FACTORS:  in  spelling,  112-121;  learning  to  read 
in  relation  to  learning  to  spell,  112-114;  fear  of  making 
errors,  114;  seeing  and  hearing  mistakes,  115;  reason- 
ing out  a  spelling,  115;  auditory  and  visual  types,  116; 
no  pure  types,  117;  dominant  type  of  error,  118;  sylla- 
bication as  an  aid,  118,  119;  traits  that  make  good  spell- 
ers, 119-121. 

SPELLING:  present-day  interest  in,  1,  2;  differences  of 
opinion  regarding  the  teaching  of,  2;  the  layman's  rem- 
edy for  apparent  deficiency  in,  3;  hard  and  uninterest- 
ing for  pupils,  4;  spelling  vocabulary,  7-9.  See  Pres- 
ent-Day  Spelling;  Vocabulary;  Rules  for  Spelling; 
Errors — Sources  and  Causes  of;  Life  History  of 
Spelling  ;  Methods  of  Presentation  ;  Spelling  Needs  ; 
Written  Vocabulary. 

SPELLING  ABILITY:  See  Spelling;  Spelling  Needs; 
Life  History  of  Spellings;  Written  Vocabulary. 

SPELLING  CONSCIENCE,  108,  109. 


28o  INDEX 

SPELLING  EFFICIENCY:  and  composition,  104-111;  plan 
of  tests,  104;  the  data  gathered,  105-108;  table  showing 
amount  of  composition  versus  breadth  of  vocabulary, 
106;  table  showing  amount  of  composition  versus 
breadth  of  vocabulary  in  relation  to  lapses  and  mis- 
spellings, 107;  organization  of  ideas,  108;  spelling  con- 
science, 108,  109;  attention  to  technique,  109,  110;  ra- 
pidity of  writing,  110;  summary  of  results,  110,  111. 

"SPELLING  HOSPITAL,"  for  defective  spellers  in  the  high 
school,  92. 

SPELLING  NEEDS:  popular  views  of,  125-134;  present 
theory  and  practise,  125-127;  number  of  words  a  child 
should  be  able  to  spell  when  he  finishes  the  eighth 
grade,  126,  127;  purpose  of  spelling,  127-129;  the  writ- 
ing vocabulary  in  relation  to  the  oral  and  reading  vo- 
cabulary, 128,  129;  immediate  versus  ultimate  values  in 
spelling,  129,  130;  spelling  of  infrequent  words,  130,  131, 
133;  pruning  word  lists,  131,  132;  reasons  for  opposition 
to  curtailment  of  vocabulary,  132-134. 

SPELLING  VOCABULARY:  7-9;  methods  of  determining, 
135-143;  investigation  of  lists  in  newspapers,  135;  Chan- 
cellor's work,  135,  136;  Ayres'  study  of  spelling  vocab- 
ularies, 136,  137;  the  needs  of  the  "common  people," 
137-139;  family  letters  as  affording  accurate  data,  138, 
139;  declining  importance  of  spelling  vocabulary,  139- 
142;  decline  due  to  newspapers,  magazines  and  books, 
139,  140;  influence  of  telegraph  and  telephone,  140;  in- 
fluence of  increase  in  travel,  140;  women  as  letter- 
writers,  141 ;  spelling  as  an  art  for  the  stenographer, 
141 ;  the  influence  of  the  post-card,  141,  142 ;  no  dan- 
ger of  hampering  the  child,  142,  143 ;  vocabularies  of 
spelling-books,  225,  226;  individual  writing  vocabularies, 
230-234;  of  thirteen  persons  as  revealed  by  successive 
thousands  of  running  words  of  correspondence,  234, 
235 ;  sex  differences  in  spelling  vocabulary,  235 ;  words 
dominant  in  letters  of  women,  236,  237;  words  dom- 
inant in  letters  of  men,  239,  240;  the  words  that  do 
the  work,  243-245. 

STANDARD  DICTIONARY,  used  in  determining  eligibility 
of  words,  153. 

STENOGRAPHER,  as  particularly  in  need  of  spelling,  141. 

SYLLABICATION:  as  a  means  of  avoiding  error,  45,  46; 
as  an  aid  in  spelling,  118,  119. 

TABLES:  showing  observance  of  rules,  17;  showing  varie- 
ties of  misspelling  of  ancient,  25;  foreign,  26;  piercing, 
26;  sieve,  26,  27;  nervous,  27;  encouragement,  27;  awful, 
28;  argument,  28;  dismayed,  28,  29;  betrayal,  29;  bene- 


INDEX  281 


TABLES— Continued 

ated,  29;  indicating  capacity  for  improvement  shown 
in  experiment,  52;  showing  history  of  spelHngs  through 
tests,  56-62;  showing  tenacity  of  certain  misspeUings, 
63;  showing  result  of  dictation  of  extract  from  Robin- 
son Crusoe,  76,  77;  showing  spellings  of  words  taken 
from  account  of  Chicago  fire,  77,  78;  summarizing  re- 
sults of  tests,  81 ;  showing  results  of  original  composi- 
tion test,  83-86;  showing  two  types  of  presentation,  97. 

TECHNIQUE,  attention  to  in  composition,  109,  110. 

TELEGRAPH,  as  affecting  the  need  of  teaching  spelling,  140. 

TELEPHONE,  as  influencing  the  need  of  teaching  spelling, 
140. 

TEXTS:  lack  of  agreement  regarding  use  of  rules  in,  10,  11; 
examples  of  rules  found  in  spelling  texts,  10;  data  re- 
garding, 147-149;  and  spelling  needs,  225-245;  vocabu- 
laries in  spelling-books,  225,  226;  relation  of  vocabu- 
laries of  spelling-books  and  of  correspondents,  226-229; 
limitations  of  any  spelling-book,  229,  230 ;  words  found 
in  none  of  the  spelling-books,  229;  individual  writing 
vocabularies,  230-234;  vocabularies  of  thirteen  persons 
as  revealed  by  successive  thousands  of  running  words 
of  correspondence,  232 ;  vocabularies  in  family  and  other 
correspondence,  234,  235 ;  sex  differences  in  spelling  vo- 
cabulary, 235 ;  list  showing  words  dominant  in  letters 
of  women,  236-239;  words  dominant  in  letters  of  men, 
239,  240;  summary  of  sex  interest,  240,  241;  relation  of 
time  economy  to  spelling  needs,  241-243 ;  the  words  that 
do  the  work,  243-245.     See  Spelling  Needs. 

TIME  ECONOMY,  relation  of  to  spelling  needs,  241-243. 

TRAITS,  that  make  good  spellers,  119-121. 

TRAVEL,  increase  of  as  influencing  need  of  teaching  spell- 
ing,  140. 

UNIVERSITY  STUDENTS:  investigation  of  regarding 
value  of  spelling  rules,  10,  11;  experience  and  training 
of  students  tested,  13,  14. 

VISUAL,  and  auditory  types,  116,  117. 
VOWELS,  obscure  or  elided,  41,  42. 

WOMEN :  as  performing  most  of  the  work  in  family  letter- 
writing,  141 ;  sex  differences  in  spelling  vocabulary,  235 
words  dominant  in  letters  of  women,  236,  237. 

WORD  LISTS:    used  to  test  value  of  spelling  rules,  11-13 
investigations  of  lists  in  newspapers,  135 ;  pruning  word 
lists,   131,  132;  derived  from  correspondence,   156-224 
method  of  classifying,  156,  157;  words  used  by  all  cor 


282  INDEX 


WORD  LISTS— Continued 

respondents,  157-161 ;  words  used  by  a  majority  of  cor- 
respondents, 161-173;  words  used  by  less  than  a  major- 
ity of  the  correspondents,  173-219;  character  of  words 
used  by  one  writer  only,  219;  proper  names  in  the  cor- 
respondence, 219-223;  tabulation  of  foreign  terms,  224; 
vocabularies  of  thirteen  persons  as  revealed  by  succes- 
sive thousands  running  words  of  correspondence,  232; 
words  dominant  in  letters  of  women,  236-239;  words 
dominant  in  letters  of  men,  239,  240;  words  used  in 
compositions  of  children,  255-262. 

WRITTEN  VOCABULARY,  methods  of  determining,   135- 
143.    See  Spelling  Vocabulary. 


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THE  best-developed  child  in  America,  Winifred 
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THE  "teen  age"  is  the  critical  age.  Boys  and 
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The  High-School  Age 

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GET  in  tune  with  childhood.  Take  the  chil- 
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By  EDGAR  JAMES  SWIFT 
Author  of  Mind  in  the  Making,  Etc. 

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AUTHORS  OF  BOOKS  IN  THE 

CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  SERIES 

SARAH  LOUISE  ARNOLD 

Dean  of  Simmons  College,  Boston ;  author  of  Waymarks  for  Teach* 
ers,  Stepping  Stones  to  Literature,  Etc. 

J.  CARLETON  BELL 

Professor  of  the  Art  of  Teaching,  University  of  Texas;  Managing 
Editor,  The  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology. 

FREDERICK  ELMER  BOLTON 

Dean,  School  of  Education,  University  of  Washington;  author  of 
The  Secondary  School  System  of  Germany,  Etc. 

MARY  MARTHA  BUNNELL 

Instructor  in  Home  Economics,  University  of  Wisconsin. 

C.  WARD  CRAMPTON 

Director  of  Physical  Education,  New  York  City  Public  Schools, 
author  of  Physiological  Age. 

JESSE  B.  DAVIS 

Principal  of  Central  Hifih  School,  and  Vocational  Director,  Grand 
Rapids;  author  of  Vocational  and  Moral  Guidance. 

JASPER  NEWTON  DEAHL 

Professor  of  Education,  West  Virginia  University. 

J.  CLAUDE  ELSOM 

Assistant  Professor  of  Physical  Education,  The  University  of 

Wisconsin. 

J.  J.  FINDLAY 

Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Manchester,  England;  author 
of  Arnold  of  Rugby,  The  School,  Etc.,  Etc. 

ARNOLD  L.  GESELL 

Department  of  Education,  Yale  University;  author  of  The  Normal 
Child,  Primary  Education. 

MICHAEL  F.  GUYER 

Professor  of  Zoology,  The  University  of  Wisconsin;  author  of 
Animal  Micrology. 

COLONEL  L.  R.  GIGNILLIAT 

Superintendent  The  Culver  Military  Academy,  Culver,  Ind. 

WILLIAM  HEALY 

Director  Juvenile  Psychopathic  Institute,  Chicago;  Associate  Pro- 
fessor of  Ner>'ous  and  Mental  Diseases,  Chicago  Policlinic;  In- 
structor Harvard  Summer  School. 

W.  H.  HECK 

Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Virginia;  author  of  Mental 
Discipline  and  Educational  Values,  Etc. 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers,  Indianapolis 


AUTHORS  OF  BOOKS  IN  THE 

CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  SERIES 

FLORENCE  HOLBROOK 

Principal  of  the  Forestville  School,  Chicago;  author  of  hound  the 
Year  in  Myth  and  Song,  Studies  in  Poetry,  Etc. 

DAVID  STARR  JORDAN 

Chancellor  of  Stanford  University ;  author  of  Care  and  Culture  of 
Men,  Footnotes  to  Evolution,  Etc.,  Etc. 

C.  A.  McMURRY 

Director  of  Normal  Training,  Superintendent  of  Schools,  DeRalb, 
Illinois;  author  of  A  Series  of  General  and  Special  Methods  in 
School  Work. 

JUNIUS  L.  MERIAM 

Professor  of  School  Supervision,  University  of  Missouri ;  author  of 
Normal  School  Education,  Etc. 

JAMES  T.  NOE 

Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Kentucky. 

RAYMOND  RIORDON 

Director  of  the  Raymond  Riordon  School,  on  Chodikee  Lake,  N.  Y.; 
author  of  Lincoln  Memorial  School  — A  New  Idea  in  Industrial 
Education,  Etc. 

WALTER  SARGENT 

Professor  of  Art  Education,  University  of  Chicago ;  author  of  Fine 
and  Industrial  Arts  in  the  Elementary  Schools. 

FRANK  CHAPMAN  SHARP 

Professor  of  Philosophy,  The  University  of  Wisconsin ;  author  of 
Shakespeare's  Portrayal  of  the  Moral  Life,  Etc. 

ALFRED  E.  STEARNS 

Principal  of  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  Mass.;  author  of  various 
articles  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  Outlook,  Etc. 

WINTHROP  ELLSWORTH  STONE 

President  Purdue  University ;  Member  of  the  Indiana  State  Board 
of  Education. 

THOMAS  A.  STOREY 

Professor  of  Hygiene,  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  Secretary 
Fourth  International  Congress  on  School  Hygiene. 

M.  H.  STUART 

Principal  Manual  Training  High  School,  Indianapolis. 

BLANCHE  M.  TRILLING 

Director  of  Women's  Gymnasium,  The  University  of  Wisconsin. 

GUY  MONTROSE  WHIPPLE 

Assistant  Professor  of  Educational  Psychology,  Cornell  University; 
author  of  Questions  in  Psychology,  Etc. 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers,  Indianapolis 


The  Childhood  and  Youth  Series 

NATURAL  EDUCATION 
Mrs.  Stoner  explains  the  methods  by  which  she  made  her 
daughter  "the  best  developed  cliild  in  America"  mentally,  mor- 
ally and  physically;  the  simple  yet  astonishing  methods  which 
make  for  the  health,  happiness  and  wisdom  of  any  normal  child. 
By  MRS.  WINIFRED  SACKVILLE  STONER 
Director-General  Women's  International  Health  Leagae 

LEARNING  AND  DOING 
The  way  to  learn  how  to  run  an  automobile  Is  by  running  It. 
Professor  Swift  shows  how  this  practical  principle  may  be  ap- 
plied to  history,  literature  and  language-study.  A  book  that 
breaks  up  monotony  in  teaching,  stirs  enthusiasm,  makes  the 
parent  and  teacher  see  the  child's  point  of  view. 

By  EDGAR  JAMES  SWIFT 

Professor  of  Psychology  and  Education,  Washington 

University ;  author  of  Mind  in  the  Making.  Etc 

THE  CHILD  AND  HIS  SPELLING 

Can  your  child  spell?  Business  and  professional  men  think 
the  children  of  this  generation  poor  spellers.  What's  the  trouble 
with  the  way  spelling  is  taught  at  home  and  in  school  ?  The 
authors  of  this  book  make  a  simple  but  scientific  analysis  of  the 
whole  question. 

By  WILLIAM  A.  COOK 

Assistant  Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Colorado;  and 

M.  V.  O'SHEA 

Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Wisconsin 

THE  HIGH-SCHOOL  AGE 
The  "teen  age"  is  the  critical  age,  the  dangerous  age  of  ado- 
lescence, when  the  future  of  the  child's  life  is  largely  determined 
and  the  bending  of  the  twig  inclines  the  tree.  Professor  King  hero 
shows  parent  and  teacher  how  to  solve  the  difficult  and  all-im- 
portant problems  of  this  crisis. 

By  IRVING  KING 

Professor  of  Education,  University  of  Iowa ;  author  of 

Psychology  of  Child  Development,  Etc. 

Each  volume  with  Special  Introduction  by  the  General  Editor, 
M.  V.  O'Shea,  Analytical  Table  of  Contents,  Carefully  Selected 
Lists  of  Books  for  Reference,  Further  Reading  and  Study,  and  a 
Full  Index. 

Each,  12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers,  Indianapolis 


The  Childhood  and  Youth  Series 

THE  WAYWARD  CHILD 
A  practical  treatment  of  the  causes  of  juvenile  delinquency  and 
methods  of  its  prevention,  by  one  who  has  extensive  experience 
in  dealing  with  the  young. 

By  MRS.  FREDERIC  SCHOFF 

President  National  Congress  of  Mothers  and  Parent-Teacher 

Association;  President  Philadelphia  Juvenile  Court 

and  Probation  Association ;  Collaborator,  Home 

Education  Division,  Bureau  of  Education 

FEAR 
A  comprehensive,  concrete  discussion  of  (1)  psychology  of  fear; 
(2)  varieties  of  fears  found  normally  in  cliildhood  and  youth;  (3) 
ways  in  which  fears  are  expressed  and  their  effects;  (4)  treatment 
of  fear  in  home  and  school. 

By  G.  STANLEY  HALL 

President  Clark  University,  Worcester,  Mass.;  author  of 

Adolescence,  Educational  Problems,  Etc. 

SELF-HELP 
Practical  aid  to  parents  and  teachers  in  teaching  children  to 
do  things  for  themselves,  written  by  a  mother,  teacher  and  keen 
student  of  Madame  Montessori,  Froebel,  Pestalozzi,  et  al. 

By  DOROTHY  CANFIELD  FISHER 
Author  of  A  Montessori  Mother,  English^Composition  of  Rhetoric.  Etc. 

THE  USE  OF  MONEY 
How  to  train  the  young  to  appreciate  (1)  what  money  repre- 
resents  in  labor  and  privilege ;  (2)  how  it  may  best  be  expended. 

By  E.  A.  KIRKPATRICK 

Read  of  Department  of  Psychology  and  Child-Study,  State  Normal 

Schoc.l,  Fitchburg,  Mass.;  author  of  F'undamentals  of 

Child-Study,  The  Individual  in  the  Making,  Etc. 

THE  BACKWARD  CHILD 
A  volume  dealing  with  the  causes  of  backwardness  among  chil- 
dren and  also  the  technique  of  determining  when  a  child  is  back- 
ward, and  practical  methods  of  treating  him. 

By  ARTHUR  HOLMES 

Dean  of  the  General  Faculty,  Pennsylvania  State  College; 

author  of  The  Conservation  of  the  Child,  Etc. 

Each  Volume  With  Special  Introduction  By  the  General  Editor,  M.  V. 
O'Shea,  Analytical  Table  of  Contents,  Carefully  Selected  Lists  of  Books 
lor  Reference,  Further  Reading  and  Study,  and  a  Full  Index. 

Each,  12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 

The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

Publishers.  Indianapolis 


A  HUNDRED  thousand  American  mothers 
venerate  the  name  of  Mrs.  Frederic  Schoff 
(Hannah  Kent  Schoff).  She  has  dedicated  her 
life  to  the  work  of  making  the  new  generation 
better,  stronger  and  more  efficient,  and  has  been 
an  inspiration  to  every  woman  in  the  land  to  do 
her  full  part  to  insure  the  future  of  America. 

Through  her  leadership  of  the  National  Congress  of  Mothers 
and  Parent-Teacher  Associations,  she  is  the  presiding  genius  of 
the  greatest  educational  movement  this  country  has  known. 

As  President  of  the  Philadelphia  Juvenile  Court  and  Pro- 
bation Association,  she  has  had  an  opportunity  to  study 
the  wajrward  children  of  a  great  city.  She  has  carried  on 
extensive  investigations  among  men  and  women  confined 
in  prisons  and  correctional  institutions  to  learn  from  them 
at  first  hand  to  what  they  attribute  their  downfall. 

By  this  broad  experience  she  is  qualified  to  speak  with 
unique  authority  on  the  training  of  children  in  the  home, 
and  especially  on  the  problem  of  tlie  wayward  child. 

She  makes  a  forceful  appeal  to  parents  both  because  of  their 
natural  desire  to  guard  ttieir  children  from  all  harmful  influ- 
ences and  because  they  realize  that  home  training,  which  comes 
first  of  all  in  every  child's  life,  moulds  his  morality.  If  any 
parent  doubts  this,  he  needs  more  than  ever  to  study 

The  Wayward  Child 

By  HANNAH  KENT  SCHOFF 

President  National  Congress  of  Mothers  and  Parent-Teacher  Associations; 

President  Philadelphia  Juvenile  Court  and  Probation  Association 

She  shows  beyond  all  doubt  that  the  early  training  in  the  home 
can  make  or  unmake  characters  at  will,  that  homes  in  which 
children  have  been  brought  up  carelessly  or  inefficiently  are 
largely  responsible  for  the  wayward  children  who  later  make 
up  our  criminal  population. 

THE  WAYWARD  CHILD  is  one  of  the  books  in  the 
CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  SERIES,  undoubtedly  the 
most  important  collections  of  practical  educational  works 
for  parents  and  teachers  ever  produced  in  this  country. 
As  a  guide  for  the  home  or  school  it  is  unexcelled. 

12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 


IF  YOUR  CHILD  grows  up  to  be  a  spendthrift 
blame  yourself.    It  is  the  fault  of  the  training 
received  in  childhood,  or  the  lack  of  it. 

But  parents  are  hard  pressed  forways  and  means 
of  teaching  their  children  how  to  use  money — 
how  to  save  it,  and  how  to  spend  it. 

Should  a  child  have  a  regular  allowance?  Should  he  be  given 
money  when  he  asks  for  it  or  only  when  he  really  needs  it? 
Should  he  be  given  money  as  a  reward  or  as  a  payment  for 
services?  Should  he  be  allowed  to  work  for  money  at  an  early 
age? 

Professor  E.  A.  Kirkpatrick  has  made  a  special  study  of 
children  to  learn  their  attitude  toward  money  in  the 
home  and  the  world  outside.  He  has  carried  on  investi- 
gations to  determine  their  natural  inclinations  and  decide 
how  parents  may  encourage  the  right  inclinations  and 
curb  those  which  lead  to  the  unhappy  extremes  in  the 
use  of  money — miserliness  or  prodigality. 

The  Use  of  Money 

By  E.  A.  KIRKPATRICK 

State  Normal  School,  Fitchburg,  Mass.;  author  of  Fundamentals  of 
Child  Study,  The  Individual  In  the  Making,  etc. 

It  offers  sound  advice,  which  any  parent  will  be  fortunate  to 
obtain.  It  tells  when  the  child  should  begin  to  learn  the  real 
value  of  money  and  how  to  dispose  of  it  properly,  and  suggests 
methods  by  which  this  training  may  be  given.  It  clears  the 
mind  of  all  doubt  as  to  how  to  induce  thrift  in  the  child,  so  that 
in  later  life  he  will  be  better  equipped,  not  only  for  business, 
but  in  the  conduct  of  the  household  and  private  affairs. 

THE  USE  OF  MONEY,  like  all  the  other  books  in  the 
famous  Childhood  and  Youth  Series,  is  designed  to  be  of 
immediate,  practical  benefit  to  the  average  parent,  guard- 
ian or  teacher. 

12mo,  Cloth,  One  Dollar  Net 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  Is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


RETURNED  TO 


JUL  1  5   1958    SUBJECT  TO  FINE  IF  NOT 

FEB  2  7 1956     EDUCATION  LIBRARY 


OCT  1  0  I9«^e 
MAR  1  5  1957 

JUL  8     1957 
WAR  13 1959, 
MAR  1  6  I960 
MAY  1  7  196U 
MAY  2  6  1960 

JUL  1 9  ^^^^ 

JUrf  4     1962 

jut  2'4  1962 

AUG  2  0     ^62 
AUG  2  0     '62 

Form  L0-60m-7,'64(5990) 


SEP  10     '62 

SFP  o  9     ig2 
OCT      8  1962 

OCT  3  1    '62 
NOV  2  1    '82 

OFC  12    '62 
JAN  3^    'If 

fee  2^    ^^ 

JUN  2  4  19681 

JUL  5     1963 

444  OCT  17  1963'' 


JAN  2  3  1964 
DEC  1^  1964 
jftN7    BBS 

MAYl     1965 


UCLA-ED/PSYCH  Ubrary 

LB  1574  C77 


L  005  588  929  9 


SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  UBRARY  FACILITY 


A    000  993  191     6 


